Cracked Truth
by lunajo123
Summary: They say learn from history or you're doomed to repeat it. She thought she had learned plenty from her past but one small glaring reminder made her think that saying was ludicrous. Begins right before Season 3. Eventually Luke/Lorelai.
1. Chapter 1

**I would like to thank Thewhatsupwriter26 for sending me this story idea. I just rolled with it. I have the lots of idea planned out to re-write Season 3 for this particular story. **

**This story picks up during the summer between Season 2 and Season 3.**

**As with my stories, it will be Luke/Lorelai….eventually.**

**So I changed a few tiny details to make Rory not as gone for long. I re-read over scripts for the show and Rory was only supposed to be gone six weeks so I changed the information to fit that.**

* * *

Lorelai woke up to the sound of her alarm clock blaring. Now this one was not one of the cutesy ones she usually bought, she found those were not as effective at waking her up. She still bought them for decoration of course. This one sounded like a fog-horn echoing through her bedroom. She groaned loudly as she reached out and shut the alarm off. She kicked the covers off from her bed and started to make her way out of her bedroom. She barely reached the doorway before she was scrambling for the bathroom and emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. She leaned back against the tub once she was sure nothing else was coming up.

"This is getting old real fast," Lorelai muttered aloud to herself.

Once she gained her strength back and was sure that she was done for now, she headed downstairs. Lorelai stopped in the doorway to Rory's room and just stared. Her baby girl had left for Washington a couple of weeks ago and was not due back for another month. She and Rory had managed to spend time together before she left but they were both upset over Christopher that the time was not well spent.

Rory was gone, her feud with Luke was still going strong, and Stars Hollow was unseasonably hot for this time of the year making for a miserable summer. It didn't help that at the beginning of the summer, she and Christopher were set to make it work, they were going to try for real this time until Sherry came along and announced she was pregnant shattering any hopes that she and Christopher would ever be a couple or be a real family for Rory. Lorelai sighed as she walked away from Rory's room. She needed her Rory home.

Lorelai sat down at the kitchen table as she waited for her coffee to brew. Even though she and Rory had talked practically every day since she left, she still missed her. She wanted her Rory home. She needed someone to talk too. Sure, she had Sookie to talk too but she was adjusting to her newly married status so that didn't leave a lot of time for girl talk. Then there was Michel who…well he was just impossible to talk too for a multitude of reasons. She and Luke were still fighting even though she sent him plenty of apology letters. One was sent before Sookie's wedding, the rest were sent during the summer. They ranged from apologetic and begging him to talk to her like normal once again to calling him an ass for ignoring her.

Her nose alerted her that the coffee was done. She grabbed her new Hello-Kitty coffee cup that she bought in an attempt to cheer herself up and filled it to the brim with coffee. She inhaled it's scent before taking the first sip. The first sip of coffee in the morning was the best part of the morning, she thought. She smiled when the first sip did not let her down. Her mood was lifted just the tiniest bit by the coffee. Lorelai headed back upstairs to get ready to head to the Inn with her coffee cup in hand.

As she descended the stairs with a now empty coffee cup, the phone began to ring. She just let it ring knowing eventually the answer machine would pick up. She was screening her calls, mainly for Christopher who called at least once a day ever since a few days after Sookie's wedding.

"You've reached Lorelai and Rory, we're not here right now because we actually have lives," the answering machine alerted followed by a beep.

"Lorelai, it's me," Christopher said. "I know you're home. You're probably standing there right now staring at the phone."

Lorelai looked around suspiciously wondering if somehow Christopher could see her. She closed the curtains just to be sure no one could see into her living room.

"Just pick up the phone Lorelai, we need to talk. Please," Christopher begged. He paused for a moment, "You're really not going to pick up? Okay, fine, call me then. Please?"

The message ended and was promptly erased by Lorelai. No matter how many times she ignored his calls, he still tried to contact her. She was doing her best to not talk to him. It was just too hard. She couldn't give in and talk to him. She checked for more messages before walking into the kitchen. Some days she hoped there would be something left for her from Luke in response to her apology letters but there was nothing. She placed her coffee cup in the sink, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door towards the Inn.

* * *

"Lorelai, are you sure you're okay?" Sookie asked as Lorelai walked into the kitchen and leaned back against the counter, "You don't look okay."

Lorelai sighed, "I just still have that touch of a stomach bug or whatever. I threw up again this morning."

"Sweetie, maybe you need to go to the doctor, this is the fourth day in a row you walked in here and said the same thing," Sookie replied. "Something may be wrong, you should see a doctor. I'm worried about you."

"Sookie, I'm fine. You know I think I know the cause of my sickness," Lorelai stated.

Sookie raised her eyebrows, "Which would be?"

"Withdrawals," Lorelai said simply as if was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Withdrawals from what? I know you're still drinking coffee," Sookie replied.

"Exactly, but I'm not drinking Luke's coffee. Maybe whatever he adds to make his coffee so great is something that I need or else I feel like crap. And Rory is gone for another month; we have never been away from each other this long. My body is just rebelling against me because I don't have my Rory, or my coffee from Luke's."

"Or your Luke," Sookie said.

"He's not my Luke," Lorelai stressed, "It's not like I have sole claim over him or anything. He's Stars Hollow Luke, not just mine."

"But you're not talking to him, you two never go this long without speaking," Sookie said.

"Oh man if he's causing this sickness then he is going to pay when we finally start talking again," Lorelai replied.

Sookie laughed, "Already planning to make him pay?"

"You betcha."

"Maybe being away from Rory and coffee is making you sick," Sookie agreed, "But please just promise me that if you don't start feeling better soon that you'll go to the doctor to find out what's wrong."

"I will hon."

Sookie grabbed a tray of tarts from the counter, "Ooh hey if you're up to it, I tried out this new apple tart recipe. Now you don't have to try it but I know how you go on and on about the apple tarts at your mother's Christmas party so I decided that I would find an apple tart recipe. I found several different ones but I think this one is a winner. If you don't feel good you don't have to try them."

Lorelai raised her hand to hush Sookie, "You had me at 'I tried out this new apple tart recipe.'"

Sookie grinned giddily and plated an apple tart for Lorelai. She slid it towards her with a fork in case she didn't want to use her fingers. Lorelai however did not notice the fork was there and picked up the tart with her fingers. Sookie watched for approval as Lorelai took the first bite.

Lorelai moaned loudly, "Oh my god Sookie, this is amazing!"

"Really?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded and took another huge bite, "These might even be better than the ones that my mom has at her Christmas party," she said as she chewed, "these are great."

The tart vanished quickly; Lorelai licked the remaining crumbs from her fingers "Those definitely need to be on the menu when we open our own Inn."

"I'll make a note of it!" Sookie said excitedly.

Lorelai eyed the tray of tarts then looked back at Sookie, "Can I take one more to my office with me? It's the only thing that even sounds appetizing right now."

"Of course! Take as many as you want I can make some more!" Sookie replied.

Lorelai smiled and grabbed a tart from the tray, "Thank you Sookie," she said nibbling on the tart as she made her way out of the kitchen and towards her office.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Lorelai excused herself from the Inn. She needed to go buy Doose's and pick up a few things before heading home. She was running dangerously low on coffee and pop-tarts. Needing only a few items, Lorelai picked up a basket and hooked her arm through it as she walked through the store. She selected the coffee and pop-tarts before browsing the rest of the aisles. Without giving it the slightest thought, Lorelai picked up a bottle of apple juice and placed it in her basket. She had bought some just a few days earlier and it was already gone. As she passed by the feminine hygiene products aisle, she came to an abrupt halt. She backtracked and walked onto the aisle. Her hand rested on a box of tampons as she tried to remember if she had any at the house. She usually remembered if she needed some but this time there was some fog clouding her brain making her memory just slightly fuzzy.

Lorelai stood there for the longest time trying to remember when her last period was. It was before….oh crap it was before Sookie's wedding, that was weeks ago. She panicked as she tried to count the number of weeks that had gone by since Sookie's wedding. Yeah her period should have definitely made its appearance by now. The basket dropped from her arm as she stood on the aisle. There was no way that this was happening again. No way in hell this could happen again. She just had to prove to herself that this wasn't happening again.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked.

Lorelai turned to find Luke standing at the end of the aisle with his basket in hand. The contents of her basket had fallen out at her feet, "I'm fine," she replied coolly.

"Are you…"

Lorelai snapped, "I said I'm fine. Why do you care all of the sudden? Shut me out for weeks now you want to care?" Her sudden unplanned discovery, the discovery that Christopher had done this to her once again was pissing her off. And she was once again taking out her anger with someone else on Luke. She softened her tone, "I just have to go."

Lorelai pushed past Luke leaving her items rolling around on the aisle. Luke stood there watching her leave wondering why she felt the sudden need to rush off. It could have to do with him, they were fighting. He picked up the items she dropped and set them back on the shelf. He noted it was weird she was buying apple juice but shrugged it off. It was Lorelai after all.

Outside, Lorelai climbed into her jeep and sped off towards Hartford. The ride there she tried to convince herself that being late was nothing. Her period had been late before. Granted it always came after a few days but a little lateness was nothing to worry about. Right? Okay so maybe it was something to worry about. She was more than just a little late. She was really late. Really, really late. The more she thought about it, the more she should have seen the signs. She was drinking apple juice lately, something she never did. Sookie made those amazing apple tarts this morning. For the past four mornings and a few random times before that, she had been sick. Hello apple juice, morning sickness, and absence of a certainly monthly visitor were all glaring signs that she was now back in the same boat she was in 16 years ago.

Lorelai parked her jeep and hurried inside the Hartford Pharmacy. She navigated through the aisles until finally coming to her destination. She stood in awe at what lay before her. There were so many pregnancy tests; definitely many more than when she was 16. All boxes promised accurate results. Some had plus signs while other had little smiley faces if you were pregnant. Yeah because an unplanned pregnancy is the kind of thing people smile about, Lorelai thought. Some test had blue lines, some had pink lines, and some just simply said the work pregnant. Lorelai grabbed five different boxes, not caring about how it told you if you were pregnant just the very fact that it could tell you if you were pregnant.

She was nervous as she paid for the tests. She avoided the look the cashier was giving her, almost a look that said hopefully you're pregnant. Don't be so damn cheery, she thought. Lorelai grabbed her change and bag of tests away from the cashier and rushed out of the pharmacy.

* * *

Lorelai laid on her bed as the timer buzzed letting her know that the results are in. She stayed in the same position willing herself to get up and go find out her future. Although she was pretty certain what the results were going to say. If she wasn't pregnant then something else may be wrong. Both scenarios frightened her.

After what seemed like hours but in reality was only a few minutes, Lorelai pushed up from the bed and headed down the hall towards the bathroom. She had flipped the tests over to the results were not visible at first glance. There were five tests scattered around the counter, five tests that would tell her future, and five tests that she had read the instructions for over and over while she waited so she knew exactly the signs to look for.

Lorelai took a deep breath and flipped over the first test to be confronted with two pink lines. That only meant one thing. _Pregnant._

She took another deep breath and flipped over the second test. This one read out yes with a small plus sign. Yes only means one things when it comes to pregnancy tests. _Pregnant._

Another deep breath was taken and another test was flipped over. This one had a plus sign. And of course plus means positive, so again the result was _Pregnant._

Through with taking deep breaths and tired of dragging the results out when three tests had already confirmed what she knew, Lorelai flipped over the last two tests. She was greeted by the word pregnant glaring at her from the small window on the stick. She frowned as she saw the smiley face on the second stick that seemed to be mocking her, congratulating her on this unplanned pregnancy.

Lorelai gathered all five tests in her hands and sunk down to the ground crying. Tears fell as she set there reading the results over and over again. There was no denying it now. She was pregnant. Five tests couldn't be wrong. One or two tests could be wrong but five tests being wrong? There was just no way. She was definitely pregnant. Oh and the kicker, it was once again Christopher's baby. He knocked her up again. They had to stop sleeping together, it was too dangerous.

The tears fell faster as she realized that she was once again alone. Christopher wasn't around and she sure was not about to call him and tell him the news. She sobbed harder realizing that there was a good chance this baby might grow up without it's dad in it's life. Big, fat, hot tears fell onto the bathroom floor upon the realization that she was going to be a mommy once again at 34. Not just any mommy, she was going to be a single mommy as well.

As she sat on the bathroom floor staring at the pregnancy tests in her hand, she knew one thing was for sure: history sure had a damn fine way of repeating itself.

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**Hope you enjoyed. Let me know if I should continue on!**

**Reviews are great, just saying.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**I know I just uploaded a chapter but I had this one written so I'm uploading it now.**

* * *

How long did she sit in the bathroom staring at those pregnancy tests? That was unclear. It could have just been a few minutes or hours. She was only broken out of her trance when she heard the phone ringing, Christopher had already made his daily call so she knew that it was most likely Rory calling. She found out she was right when she heard Rory's voice on the answering machine.

"Mom, are you there?" Rory asked. "Mom, pick up. I know you probably lost the phone so I'll just wait until you find it."

Lorelai hurried down the hall to her bedroom and picked the phone up from the nightstand before Rory could hang up.

"Hey sweets," Lorelai said with as much of fake cheer as she could stand. She was trying to cover up the fact that she had been crying. She dropped the pregnancy tests onto her bed as she sat down.

"Are you okay?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine Rory," Lorelai replied. She couldn't tell Rory about the pregnancy, at least not yet; she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her on the phone anyways. This was big news, not tell over the phone kind of news.

Rory sighed, "Are you sure? You don't sound really fine. You're doing that voice that you do when something is wrong and you don't want me to know."

"No, I'm not," Lorelai said trying to return to her normal voice but almost forgetting what that sounded like, "I'm fine babe. It's just been a long day."

"If you say so."

Lorelai cleared her throat, "So how's Washington treating you? Have they made you President yet?"

Rory laughed, "Oh no taking over the White House is on tomorrow's agenda."

"As long as you have a plan," Lorelai replied. "Anything else new?"

"Not really, Paris is still being Paris. We're just touring Washington, nothing super exciting happened today. What about you?" Rory asked.

"Let's see still fighting with Luke, spending most of my free time at the Inn, listening to Sookie talk about renovating their house to make it manlier for Jackson, so nothing really new," Lorelai said. _Except for that fact that I'm pregnant, _Lorelai added in her head.

"Dad still calling you?"

"Yep."

"Still not answering?"

"Haven't answered one yet," Lorelai replied, "I don't want to break the streak."

"Well I just wanted to call before we head out. We have some kind of banquet thing to get too," Rory said. "And Paris is giving me this look like she wants to kill me because she's afraid I'm going to make us late. I should go."

"Okay hon, I'll talk to you later then," Lorelai replied.

"Love you."

Lorelai smiled, "Love you too."

Lorelai hung up the phone and placed it back on the receiver. She took another glance at the pregnancy tests she had spread out on her bed. She knew she needed to make a doctors' appointment to absolutely confirm everything before telling anyone. Lorelai pushed up off the bed and walked over to the full length mirror in her room. She grabbed the hem of shirt and lifted it up exposing her belly. She ran her hand along the surface; there was the slightest hint of a pooch there if she looked really hard. No one else would be able to tell. Hell she didn't notice until right now. Maybe it was just her pregnancy eyes playing a trick on her.

Lorelai smoothed her shirt back down and flopped down onto the bed. She was sure the universe was out to get her. Not only did all the forces in the universe come together to screw up her relationship with Christopher but now she was also pregnant with his child while he was off with his also pregnant girlfriend. They were going to get married and live their happily ever after while she was just destined to always be a single mom.

Lorelai rolled onto her side and curled up in the fetal position as she thought about how she was going to tell everyone. She knew she had to tell Christopher but right now not telling him seemed like the better option. Rory would support her and promise to help out with the baby, she knew that. Rory was a great kid and would love her brother or sister. She knew she could count on Rory to help out well at least until Rory went off to college. Then there was Sookie who she knew would also be supportive in her own way. Sookie was her best friend and wouldn't pass judgment on her at all over this. She might ask who the father is and why this happened but she wouldn't judge. Then Luke. Oh God Luke. What would he think? What would he say when she told him? For some reason his reaction was the one she feared the most. Oh wait scratch that, her parents' reaction was the one she feared the most. They would be disappointed in her again. It would definitely be like she was 16 again. They would judge.

Maybe she could hide it. Hide the fact that she was pregnant. Maybe she could take a trip and just return with the baby. Ok no that was plain crazy. She had a life here, Rory's life was here. She would have to tell people, she was going to start gaining weight soon. Sure she could hide it for a while under flowy shirts and looser fitting clothes but people would eventually begin to suspect something was up. She would have to tell the town.

For the second time that day as she laid in bed, she cried.

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai decided to stay home from the Inn. After talking with Rory yesterday and crying once again, she managed to call the doctor's office and make an appointment for an official pregnancy test. Luckily, they had a cancellation and could squeeze her in today. After getting dressed, Lorelai decided to call Sookie to tell her she wouldn't be in today.

"Hello?" Sookie asked as she answered the phone.

"Hey Sookie, it's me," Lorelai replied, "I was just calling to tell you that I'm not coming into the Inn today."

"Finally taking a day off?" Sookie asked.

"Something like that."

"Are you feeling any better today? Still have that stomach thing?"

"I feel a little bit better today," Lorelai lied. "I just think I need a day off. Get some rest, I'll be fine."

"Okay sweetie, call me if you need anything. I can bring soup over or any food you want over," Sookie replied. "I meant it call me for anything."

"I will," Lorelai promised.

She hung up the phone and headed out the door.

* * *

Lorelai sat in the examination room at the doctor's office awaiting her results. She already knew what they were going to say but she was still nervous. She still felt numb to the entire thing. She wasn't sure how to feel. Sure at one point she had thought about having more kids but that was if she ever married someone and they had discussed it. Then there was the fact that she was going to raise this baby alone, just like with Rory. Lorelai drummed her fingers on the edge of the examination table she was sitting on as Doctor Callaway walked in.

"Well Ms. Gilmore, I have your results."

"Call me Lorelai," Lorelai insisted.

Doctor Callaway smiled, "Okay, Lorelai. Congratulations, you're pregnant."

Lorelai bit the inside of her lip to try and stop the tears from falling. She had no such luck. A few tears managed to escape and stream down her face. She wiped at them with her hand and nodded her head, "Okay. I mean five home tests wouldn't lie right?"

Doctor Callaway sat down in front of Lorelai, "Are you alright?"

Lorelai nodded her head again and tried to keep the tears at bay, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I mean unplanned pregnancies are all the rage right?" She said the sob forming in her throat "Is it too early to start blaming the crying on hormones?"

Doctor Callaway placed a comforting hand on Lorelai's shoulder, "You're about twelve weeks along, judging from when you had your last period. It could be off by a week or two though. You know you don't have to keep the baby. There are other options."

Doctor Callaway got up and walked across the room. She leafed through a stack of pamphlets and selected a few. She sorted the pamphlets in her hand and walked back to Lorelai. "There's always adoption," she said handing Lorelai a pamphlet on adoption. "There are always couples looking to adopt."

Lorelai nodded and took the pamphlet.

"And there's always one more option," Doctor Callaway said handing Lorelai another pamphlet.

Lorelai looked down at the pamphlet in front of her and shook her head, "I would never. I could never just get rid of my baby. That's not an option."

Doctor Callaway took the pamphlet back and sat it on the counter, "I was just making sure you knew all your options. I have to cover all the bases."

Lorelai wiped at her tears once again, "So twelve weeks huh? I guess I should have noticed sooner. Just been a stressful summer."

Doctor Callaway nodded and took a seat in front of Lorelai, "I understand. Is this your first baby?"

Lorelai shook her head, "No, I have a daughter."

"Oh and how old is she?"

"She'll be 18 soon," Lorelai answered. "So it's been a while since I've been in this position."

Doctor Callaway nodded, "I see. I have your prescription here for your prenatal vitamins; you will need to take those every day."

"I remember."

"Your due date is February 16," Doctor Callaway said.

Lorelai's hand went to her belly, "February," she whispered.

"Do you have any other questions?" Doctor Callaway asked. "We could go ahead with an ultrasound today if you would like, or we can wait and make another appointment."

"I think I'll wait," Lorelai said quietly, "No other questions right now."

"Well if you have no questions then that's it for today. Try and make your appointment for the next week, we need to do an ultrasound soon just to make sure everything is fine," Doctor Callaway said. She handed Lorelai yet another pamphlet, "This is just explaining certain dietary restrictions during pregnancy. You're going to want to cut back on caffeine and things like that. It's all explained in here."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay. So just make an appointment with the receptionist on the way out?"

Doctor Callaway nodded, "Yes please do. I'll see you soon Ms. Gilmore; I mean Lorelai." With that she exited the room.

Lorelai remained motionless on the examination table. She knew what the results were going to be but there was still the slight hope that maybe the tests lied and maybe she wasn't pregnant. Although she knew that was dreaming big. Now she needed to tell people, starting with Rory. She could wait and tell Rory when she got home but that was almost a month away. It was early August now and Rory wasn't due back until the first of September. Lorelai did the math in her head by then she would at least be 16 weeks which meant she would be showing by then. If this baby was like Rory though, she wouldn't show very much at that point. But with the second baby, she heard, you started to show sooner. She had to tell Rory. She would just have to tell her over the phone.

Lorelai gathered her things and headed out of the examination room. She made it to the waiting room and had to stand in line to talk to the receptionist. She looked around at the other pregnant women in the room. They were all with their husbands or boyfriends. Some were far along and looked like they were ready to pop while some looked like her, not showing yet. However they all wore happy grins while a slight frown was etched onto her face. Lorelai quickly made an appointment for the following week and headed out to her jeep.

Once in her jeep, it was like the news really hit her. She was going to be a mommy again. Lorelai ran a hand over her belly. She wasn't necessarily happy at the moment but she wasn't as frightened as she had been. She was just a jumbled mix of emotions. She rubbed her belly lightly.

"Hey kid, I'm your mommy and let me just tell you one thing, you're a surprise."

* * *

**Okay a few things: **

**I used a date around the day the episode for Sookie's wedding aired since there was never a date mentioned, I don't think. I looked it up but couldn't find a date. For the purpose of this story, Sookie's wedding was at the end of May. (As when the episode aired.)**

**I know she should have noticed sooner but with the way I wanted to play things out, she couldn't have noticed sooner. And I just want to bring Rory home soon.**

**As mentioned before, I played around with the dates and timing but this is my story.**

**We are going to follow the Season 3 storyline somewhat and that will begin soon.**

**Also thanks for reviewing!**

**Any other questions leave them below and I will do my best to answer!**

**Also Rory finds out in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Here's the chapter about Rory and Sookie.**

* * *

Over the next week, Lorelai kept mainly to herself. She was still keeping the news to herself; she was just looking for the right way to tell Rory. Rory had to be the first one to know. Morning sickness still plagued her but she kept it from Sookie so her best friend wouldn't worry anymore. Whenever Sookie did ask if Lorelai was okay, she just blamed her mood on Rory being away in Washington.

The past week had not done much to improve Lorelai's attitude. She was still numb to the news of her pregnancy. There were times when she found herself watching TV with her hand just resting on the small bump that seemed to form since she got the news. She still wasn't too big; she was still able to hide the news which was great because she was planning on not telling them for as long as she could. Christopher was still calling and she was still avoiding his calls.

Lorelai called Sookie earlier to say she was taking another personal day. She didn't explain why the sudden need for another personal day figuring that maybe after her appointment and after she told Rory, that she would tell Sookie she was pregnant. Sookie was her best friend and deserved to be one of the first to know.

Her doctor's appointment is where she was now. She was laid back on the examination table waiting for the doctor to come in for the ultrasound. She was hoping that the doctor would come soon because as the doctor instructed she drank plenty of water before the exam and really needed to pee. A few minutes later the doctor walked in.

"Hello again Lorelai," Doctor Callaway said.

"Hey," Lorelai replied.

"Ready to see your baby?" Doctor Callaway asked with a smile on her face.

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah I guess," she said trying to fake some enthusiasm but she just couldn't.

"Lift up your shirt please," Doctor Callaway said. She grabbed a bottle of blue gel, "Now this is going to be cold," she said before squirting the gel onto Lorelai's now exposed belly.

Lorelai shivered as the gel hit her skin. She relaxed against the table as the doctor began moving the wand around on her belly. After a few minutes, Doctor Callaway turned towards Lorelai and pointed at the screen.

"This is your baby right here," Doctor Callaway said.

Lorelai couldn't help but smile. This was the first time since she found out that she was pregnant that she actually smiled over the baby. On screen was her little baby.

"Would you like to hear the heartbeat?" Doctor Callaway asked.

Lorelai nodded her head.

Doctor Callaway flipped a switch on the machine and a gentle swooshing sound filled the room. Lorelai smiled again and wiped a few tears from her cheeks. She closed her eyes listening to the sound of her baby's heartbeat. Happiness then seemed to flow through her as the heartbeat filled the room. She was having a baby. She was going to have her own little boy or girl again. At that moment it didn't matter that she was doing this alone because she wouldn't be as alone as she thought, she had Rory. Well that is if Rory took the news well.

"Would you like a picture to take to the father?" Doctor Callaway asked.

And her happy mood came crashing down around her, "No picture for the father" she snapped, "but can I just get one for myself?"

"Oh," Doctor Callaway nodded. She didn't yet have that personal relationship with Lorelai and did not know that the father had not been informed of the baby. "I can print one off for you."

Doctor Callaway handed Lorelai a tissue to wipe the gel from her belly. She printed off a picture from the machine as Lorelai fixed her shirt. Lorelai sat up on the examination table as the doctor began talking to her. Everything with the pregnancy was going along just fine. The doctor explained the baby was fine and right on track for this far along in her pregnancy. Once the doctor explained what Lorelai should expect with her pregnancy in the next few weeks before her next appointment, Lorelai gathered her things and left the office. On the way out she made her next appointment.

* * *

As Lorelai arrived home with the ultrasound in her hand, the phone began ringing. Christopher had not called yet that morning so she was just going to let the answering machine pick up the call. After a few rings the answering machine finally cut on.

"Mom?" Rory asked, "It's me."

Lorelai quickly picked up the phone, "Fruit of my loins!" she greeted.

"Still screening dad's calls?" Rory asked.

"Yeah," Lorelai sighed.

"I called earlier where were you? I called the Inn too and they said you took a personal day. Then I called your cellphone and you didn't answer," Rory replied, "I just worried a little when you didn't answer."

"Sorry sweets, I went out. I had somewhere to go," Lorelai replied digging through her purse looking for her cellphone. She tried to turn it on but the screen just remained black, "And apparently I forgot to charge my cell phone. I didn't mean to worry you. How's Washington going? Rooming with Paris still everything you thought it would be?"

Rory chuckled, "She talks in her sleep constantly. She just shouts things out all the time." Lorelai laughed, "Don't laugh mom, she has long in-depth arguments, I don't sleep."

"Well that's what coffee is for," Lorelai replied sitting down on the couch. She still held the ultrasound picture in her hand as she talked on the phone.

"So where did you have to go too?" Rory asked.

Lorelai sighed, it's now or never, she thought. "Well I went to the doctor."

"Doctor? What's wrong? Are you sick? You never go to the doctor's office Mom," Rory replied.

Lorelai took a deep breath, "I have some news kid. Kind of life-changing news and I need you to just listen to me. I was going to wait and tell you when you got home," she said running her hand over her tiny baby bump, "but it really can't wait until then."

Rory started panicking, "Is everything okay? Are you sick? Mom, you're scaring me, just tell me what's wrong please."

"I'm pregnant," Lorelai whispered.

"What did you say? I didn't hear you."

Lorelai took another deep breath, "I'm pregnant," she said a bit louder this time.

"Oh okay you almost had me," Rory said. "That's not a very funny joke Mom. I mean what were you going to do show up at the airport with a pillow stuffed under your shirt to make it look like you were pregnant? Is this some kind of new bit you've been working on since I've been gone?"

"Rory, I'm serious. This is not a joke or one of my bits. I'm pregnant. Really pregnant. Going to be the size of a beached whale soon pregnant," Lorelai replied.

"Oh my god, you're not kidding? You're really pregnant?" Rory said making it sound like more a question than she wanted too.

Lorelai let out a pitiful laugh, "Yeah, I'm pregnant," she choked out still finding the words a little hard to say and even harder to admit to her daughter, "You're going to be a big sister."

"What? I mean how…I was just home and you weren't pregnant," Rory replied. "I just don't understand."

"Well I was pregnant when you were home earlier this summer, I just didn't know it. I should have known it but I don't know with everything that happened, I just….I don't know. All I know is that I'm pregnant, I'm going to have a baby. You're going to be a big sister."

"Okay…"

"I mean when you were little you asked me for a little sister or brother, I'm a few years late but I'm finally giving you that sibling you always wanted," Lorelai replied. "I'm looking at a picture of him or her right now," she said running her finger over the image.

Rory was at a loss for words for the moment. She finally thought of something to say, "Um…when did you find out?"

"I had a suspicion last week because I've been sick recently and then there was the apple thing; with the tarts and the juice. I was shopping and went to buy tampons when I realized I was late, like really late. Like should have noticed way sooner that I was late. I took home tests and they were all positive. The doctor confirmed it last week then I had another appointment today for an ultrasound," Lorelai replied.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I don't know kid. I wanted too but it took a long time for me to admit it to myself. I know I took the tests and last week it seemed real but actually seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat made everything seem really real," Lorelai said, "I had to tell you because I'm going to start showing more soon. I can hide it for now but soon I won't be able too."

Rory stayed silent on the phone trying to process the news. She knew her mom hadn't started seeing anyone recently, unless she just didn't tell her. No there was no way she was seeing anyone, she was still upset over Christopher leaving and going back to Sherry since she was pregnant as well.

"Rory, you there?"

"Yeah."

The phone line still remained silent. Neither mother nor daughter saying a word. Rory was trying to think of something to say while Lorelai was waiting for Rory to say something.

"Rory are you sure you're there? I really need you to say something, say anything. I just need you to talk."

"Is it dad's?" Rory asked.

"What?" Lorelai responded.

"The baby is….is it dad's?" Rory asked again.

"Yeah sweets; the baby is your dad's." Lorelai sighed, "So you know you have the full biological link to this kid. This kid will be more of your brother or sister than Sherry's kid," she said bitterly. She was trying to make a joke about all of it but her tone quickly changed during the sentence.

"Mom…" Rory sighed.

"Just pointing out a fact."

"Does dad know?" Rory asked.

"Nope."

"You haven't told him yet?"

"Nope."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know," Lorelai replied quietly.

Rory groaned, "Mom..."

Lorelai interrupted, "Don't 'Mom' me Rory. You have no idea what I'm going through. It's not that easy to just call him up and say 'hey your girlfriend is pregnant. But guess what I am too'. Okay, it's hard," she snapped. "And it's not easy dealing with all of this unexpectedly."

"You have to tell him," Rory reasoned.

"All I have to do is take care of this baby," Lorelai said. "He left me," she added harshly.

"You told him to leave from what you told me."

"Because his girlfriend is pregnant Rory! He needs to be there for his kid."

"Exactly mom, he needs to be there for his kid. You're having his kid too," Rory replied.

"Rory, this is not that simple okay? He can't just leave her to be there for me. That's not how life works."

Mom…" Rory started again, "But Dad loves you…"

Lorelai interjected, "Do not do this now Rory. Do not try to guilt me into telling your father. That's my decision and my decision alone. I'm pregnant, I get to make the decisions," she said harshly. "I'm your mother and as your mother I just wanted to let you know about your new sibling. I did not want this cause a fight and if this continues I'm sure there will be a fight. And I cannot take fighting with your right now, I just can't."

"I'm sorry," Rory replied, "Do I need….should I come home? I'm sure I could tell them I have a family emergency and I could come home a few weeks early."

Lorelai sniffled, "No sweets. You stay there, there's not much you can do now. Just stay and have fun in Washington. Don't worry about mommy. I'm fine."

Rory stayed silent for once again. Then she remembered one thing, "I guess this means no Europe."

"What?" Lorelai asked before realizing what Rory meant, "Oh my god, I didn't even think about that. We can't go on our trip after your graduation. I'll have a baby. Oh Rory, god I just screw everything up. I'm just…I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it Mom. It's fine."

"No it's not fine Rory. I promised you this. I have never broken a promise to you before. This is not fine. We've been planning this and now it's not going to happen. You were so looking forward to this trip. It's not fine Rory, I'm a terrible mother. I let you down," Lorelai said. She quickly wiped at her eyes determined not to cry again, to stop the tears as soon as they started. "I'm sorry babe."

"No mom really it's fine. Don't worry about it, you just worry about the baby. I have to go," Rory replied.

"Oh okay sweets, I love you," Lorelai replied.

"I love you too Mom."

In Washington Rory hung up the phone. Sitting on her bed, she pulled her knees up to her chest as she tried to process everything she had just been told. The news of her mother's pregnancy was startling but the news of not being able to go to Europe was just unsettling. So yeah she lied to her mother and told her it was fine. She couldn't tell her that she was truly disappointed in the fact that they couldn't do to Europe; the one thing that her mom had promised her after graduation. Her mom already had too much to deal with. She didn't want her mom to worry about her.

In Stars Hollow, Lorelai hung up the phone and placed it on the couch next to her. She sat the ultrasound picture next to the phone. Rory seemed to handle the news okay, until she remembered Europe. Europe. The one thing that she and Rory had planned for and were going to do together. The one thing that represented she made it through Chilton and kicked ass while doing it and now they couldn't do it. She felt terrible that she couldn't do this for her Rory but with a baby on the way, a baby that would only be a few months old by the time Rory graduated, there was absolutely no way they could backpack through Europe.

Lorelai sighed, "Babies can't backpack through Europe."

* * *

Two days later Lorelai headed over to Sookie's house. Since Sookie knew that Lorelai and Luke were still fighting, she told Lorelai to feel free to come over for breakfast anytime. Lorelai was going to take her up on that offer this morning and she was going to somehow work in the fact that she was pregnant. Lorelai arrived at Sookie's house and walked straight in without knocking.

"Hello?" Lorelai called out walking into the house.

"Kitchen," Sookie replied.

Lorelai shut the front door behind her and headed towards the kitchen. "I hope you don't mind me just dropping by like this."

Sookie turned around as Lorelai entered the kitchen, "I told you that you're free to stop by whenever, I'm just finishing up some waffles here. Ooh and I have bacon."

Lorelai sat down at the kitchen table as Sookie began fixing her a plate, "Have I told you that I love you Sookie?"

"Is that your way of saying 'hurry up with my breakfast?'" Sookie asked.

"Hmm maybe."

"I'll take it anyways," Sookie replied.

"Hey Sookie, something happened with the hot water," Jackson said as he started to walk into the kitchen wearing nothing but a teeny towel.

Lorelai turned around at the sound of his voice then quickly wished she hadn't. "Ahhhh my eyes," she screamed quickly covering up her eyes.

"Lorelai's here Jackson," Sookie said just as quickly as Lorelai screamed.

"Well I didn't know," Jackson replied.

"Just go put clothes on," Sookie said shooing him out of the kitchen, "Sorry about that."

"I don't know why I turned around," Lorelai replied laying her head down on the table. "I'm always going to knock and announce my presence from now on."

Sookie giggled as she sat a plate down in front of Lorelai, "Lift your head up and eat your breakfast. I promise no more almost nude Jackson."

"I definitely didn't need to see that much of your husband," Lorelai replied as she lifted her head up. "This smells great Sookie."

"Do you want syrup or anything? We have some preserves too, different jellies that we made from fruits Jackson grew: we have apple, strawberry…."

Lorelai interrupted, "I'll take apple; that sounds good."

Sookie opened a cabinet and pulled out a jar of apple preserves setting them in front of Lorelai. She opened the jar; using a knife she spread apple preserves all over her waffle. The waffles and bacon soon disappeared. After an awkward encounter with Jackson, he left for work leaving Sookie and Lorelai alone.

"I have something I need to tell you and it's really important," Lorelai said suddenly. Her tone indicated that her news was important.

"What is it Lorelai? You know you can tell me anything," Sookie replied.

"Well I went to the doctor, I know the reason that I have been sick recently," Lorelai replied.

"You went to the doctor? That's why you took those personal days?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded. "I just need to get this out. I already told Rory a few days ago and I can't keep it a secret much longer. Just let me say this," she paused and was silent for several moments, "I'm pregnant."

"You're pregnant?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded again, "The baby is Christopher's."

"But last time you were together was at the wedding right?" Sookie asked. Lorelai nodded. "And you just found out, the wedding was several weeks ago."

"I know, I just had a lot of things on my mind with Christopher leaving and going back to Sherry when he found out she was pregnant, to Rory leaving, to fighting with Luke that I guess I didn't even think about the fact that I was late. I didn't connect the morning sickness to being late or craving apples recently," Lorelai replied, "I just didn't think anything about it. Then the other day in Doose's everything just clicked."

"So you're pregnant," Sookie said processing the information. "I mean how are you doing with everything? Does Christopher know?"

Lorelai shook her head, "I haven't told him yet. I don't know if I should tell him."

"He deserves to know."

"I know he does but at this point, I just can't…"

"Okay, okay, I understand Lorelai. I do. I really do," Sookie said. "How are you though?"

"Still trying to process this. You know I thought if I ever did get pregnant again, if it was set for me to have another child, that I would at least be married. The child would be planned. My husband and I would do this together. I would have someone with me through everything. Having another kid would not be like this," Lorelai admitted. "The child would not be a surprise and I would definitely not be single."

"Oh sweetie I don't know what to say other than that I'm here for you. You need anything I'm here. Whatever the baby craves, I'll make it," Sookie said, "Wait you said you were craving apples? I have tons of recipes for things with apples. I can make anything apple-related you want."

"Sookie calm down, you don't have to say or do anything. I just needed to tell you," Lorelai sighed, "I think seeing the baby and hearing his or her heartbeat really helped me say 'hey this is real, this is happening. You're having a baby.' I'm doing better than I was when I first found out. I just wanted to tell you," Lorelai replied. "You're my best friend."

"Are you sure you don't want anything? Does baby want anything?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "I'm fine. We're fine." She grabbed her purse and dug through it until she found her ultrasound picture, "Here's the baby if you want to see."

Sookie took the picture from her, "Wow, so you're really having a baby? This is good, right? This can be great."

"Yeah, yeah, it can. I mean it's a shock but this is good. Babies can be good, they're cute," Lorelai replied. "Have you and Jackson talked about kids?" she asked changing the subject.

"I mean there was a small discussion where we said we both wanted kids but we're not necessarily in a hurry. Hey if I get pregnant soon our kids can grow up together! They can be friends, just like us. They can go to school and just everything together," Sookie replied excitedly.

Lorelai took the ultrasound picture back from her and smiled in spite of herself, "I guess."

"I'm sorry is that weird to talk about?"

"Just a little but I mean it's true. You might have a baby soon. I'm having a baby soon. They could very well grow up together."

"You know I'm here for you though if you need to talk, right?"

"I know. Could you just not tell Jackson? I'm not ready for anyone to know. Only you and Rory know at this point. I want to keep it that way. I want to tell some people first."

"Like Luke?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, I feel like I should tell him before telling the town. I just have to get him to talk to me first. I think he deserves to find out straight from me."

"I wonder how he's going to take it," Sookie replied.

"Who knows? It's Luke," Lorelai said. "He's very hard to read."

Lorelai drummed her fingers on the table as she thought of the possibilities of telling Luke. Should she just blurt it out once they are friends again? When were they going to talk again? They avoided one another all summer now she had a bomb to drop on him. She had to tell him before anyone else in the town found out. He might get upset if he found out from one of the townspeople. She was going to tell him, someway, somehow.

* * *

**Next up to find out: Luke!**

**Also the line "Babies can't backpack through Europe," had me laughing so hard. It's not even that funny of a line but every time I see it, I laugh. Just delusional laughing. I'm sorry for that line but I thought it was funny.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the review on the last chapter! Now here's Luke.**

* * *

After telling both Rory and Sookie about the news of her pregnancy, it was if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. She had two people now to share this with. She wasn't completely alone. Telling her daughter and best friend seemed to improve her mood. Sure she was still upset over Christopher not being there but there wasn't much she could do to change that especially since she still had not told him. She couldn't spend forever dreading this pregnancy. This baby was going to be loved and would charm his or her way into everyone's heart. After Sookie found out about the pregnancy and Lorelai had complained that her clothes were starting to get too tight, Sookie had suggested that they both take off one day and go shopping. She needed this shopping day if she was trying to conceal her bump any longer.

Lorelai knocked on Sookie's front door. After a run-in with Jackson in a towel early one morning, she was going to make sure to knock every time she went to Sookie's house. Seeing Jackson wrapped in a tiny towel was enough to scar her from ever just entering Sookie's house again without some warning.

Sookie opened the door a few seconds later, "Come in, come in, I'm almost ready," she said ushering Lorelai into the house. "Do you want something to eat before we go? I can make you anything you want. Anything the baby wants."

"Sookie, not so loud," Lorelai scolded, "Jackson can't know, not yet." She knew Jackson liked to gossip and could not keep a secret.

"Jackson's not here," Sookie replied, "He's out in the fields. So is there anything baby wants?"

"I'm really craving one of those giant pretzel thingies from the food court," Lorelai said, "So I figured we could stop by the food court before shopping."

"I can make you a pretzel," Sookie said, "They are better than the ones at the mall anyways."

"But that would take forever Sookie. Plus we are already going to the mall, it's easier to get one there," Lorelai replied.

Sookie sighed, "Okay. Just let me grab my purse and then we can go." She walked into the living room and grabbed her purse from the table before looking at Lorelai, "You know I think a see the outline of a bump there."

Lorelai covered her belly. She knew there was a bump there but she wasn't ready for the whole town to know which meant she was wearing her baggiest clothes to hide it, "Can you really tell?" she asked self-consciously "I'm not ready for everyone to know. Not yet."

"Oh no, I mean I can tell a little bit but I know what I'm looking at. No one else would be able to tell. I can only tell because you told me," Sookie assured, "No one else would notice. Although people might start questioning soon, your boobs are definitely getting bigger."

Lorelai laughed, "I know! That's why I definitely need this shopping day. They're starting to hurt and I have no comfy bras. All of them are getting too small."

"Then we will make sure to get you some more," Sookie said. "Are we taking your car or mine?"

"I guess my car, I did drive over here," Lorelai replied.

"That's fine," Sookie said as they walked out of the house.

* * *

After snacking at the food court, Lorelai and Sookie headed to their first destination: the maternity store. This mall had two maternity stores, Lorelai picked the one that she thought had more fashionable clothes just because she was pregnant didn't mean she could not be dressed cute.

"Maternity clothes now are actually kind of cute," Lorelai said as she and Sookie exited the maternity store. "I mean I actually find plenty of things I like and that fit me for right now. Plus some of them stretch so I can wear them for a while."

"And they show off your baby bump," Sookie replied. "And some of them hide the bump until you're ready to tell people."

Lorelai nodded, "Exactly. Thanks for suggesting this Sookie. I needed this today."

"So I have to ask, I know how you felt when you found out but I mean how are things know?" Sookie asked. "How are you dealing with this? It's been a few weeks since you found out."

"I'm better, a lot better. I can't be upset over this forever. I'm actually happy about this new baby. The other night I actually bought a baby name book from this store in Hartford. I figured I couldn't name this baby after myself. I couldn't have two kids named after me," Lorelai replied.

"Plus you don't know what you're having yet," Sookie said.

Lorelai smiled, "Another good point," she stopped talking as they walked past a baby clothing store. Lorelai stopped, "I'm feeling a bit better about this so I think now I can actually look at baby clothes without wanting to cry."

"So we're going in?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded again, "We're going in," she said as she started walking into the baby store. She headed towards a rack of onesies.

"Ooh look at this one," Sookie said, "It's so cute," she cooed holding up a onesie with ducks printed all over the front.

Lorelai grinned, "That's adorable Sookie. Although I like this one as well," she said holding up a pink onesie with the words 'little sister' written on it in glitter.

"You don't know if you're having a girl though. You may be having a boy," Sookie pointed out continuing to browse through baby clothes.

Lorelai sighed and put the pink onesie back, "You're right. Right now I'll just look at gender neutral clothing."

Both women continued to look at clothes. Lorelai shifted the bags in her hand from the maternity store as she continued to pick up different items of clothing. She and Sookie cooed and awed over the tiny baby clothes. The shopping trip was definitely improving her mood and making her a little more excited for the baby. If only she knew that her mood was about to come crashing down.

"Lorelai?" A voice called.

Lorelai cringed as she recognized the voice. She turned towards Sookie and mouthed the word 'Christopher.' Sookie looked over Lorelai's shoulder and nodded to confirm that it was definitely Christopher standing behind her.

"Lorelai?" Christopher called again, "Lorelai, talk to me."

Lorelai turned to face him slowly, "Christopher," she said through clenched teeth. A scowl formed onto her face as Sherry approached from behind Christopher. Lorelai used the bags as a shield to cover up her belly as naturally as possible.

"Hey Chris, look at this," Sherry said walking up to Christopher. She was wearing a tight dress that accentuated her baby bump. One hand rested on her bump while one held a green onesie. She stopped when she saw Lorelai, "Oh hey Lorelai."

"Hi Sherry," Lorelai replied as calmly as she could. Her eyes focused on Sherry's teeny tiny baby bump, "What are you two doing here?"

"I had a meeting in Hartford. Sherry came with and wanted to go shopping, so we're here," Christopher replied. He looked down and noticed the baby clothes in Lorelai's hands, "What are you doing here?"

Lorelai stammered, "I…um…I…well…" she shot Sookie a 'please help me' glance.

Sookie interrupted, "Oh well um, I'm pregnant. Yep, there's bun in this oven. I'm expecting, I'm having a baby," she rambled on, "and Lorelai just wanted to take me shopping to calm me down over the news."

Lorelai let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah that's right. Sookie was freaking out so I suggested shopping. She's pregnant, not me."

"Oh well congratulations," Sherry said smiling.

"Um thanks," Sookie replied.

"So you're pregnant?" Christopher asked looking at Sookie.

"That's what I said," Sookie replied.

"Not you?" Christopher asked looking at Lorelai. He seemed to look her up and down taking in her appearance.

Lorelai shook her head, "Me? Pregnant? That's insane," she said laughing, "No, Sookie is pregnant. I'm just carrying her things for her."

"Even though I told her I could carry my own bags," Sookie said. She chuckled nervously, "This one, she's always watching out for me."

Lorelai turned towards Sookie suddenly still clutching the bags tight in front of her, "You know what I just remembered? We have that big client coming in to the Inn today. You know that big client that's expecting a lot from us? The one that decided to plan something at the last minute?" she asked hoping Sookie would catch on that they needed to leave.

Sookie was confused for a few minutes but caught on, "Oh yeah, yeah that client. We need to go now then."

"She's right, we need to go," Lorelai said setting down the clothes in her hand, "Bye," she said hurriedly pushing past Christopher and Sherry.

"Lorelai wait," Christopher called after her.

Lorelai ignored him and rushed out of the store with Sookie close behind her. No words were said as they made their way out of the mall. As they approached Lorelai's car, she grabbed her keys out of her purse and passed them off to Sookie.

"Here you drive Sookie, I can't," Lorelai said on the verge of tears. She threw her bags into the backseat.

"Of course sweetie," Sookie said taking the keys from Lorelai. She waited until Lorelai was in the car and had her seatbelt on before she started to drive away.

Halfway back to Stars Hollow, Sookie turned to Lorelai, "Are you okay?"

"I was happy; I was fine with doing this on my own then I had to see him and her together. Why did he have to be there today? He doesn't even live here. They live in Boston," Lorelai said as she started to tear up.

Sookie sighed, "Lorelai, you're not doing this on your own. You have me. You have Rory. You have the entire town. You even have Luke."

"Luke and I aren't talking still," Lorelai reminded her. "I just…can we not talk right now? I need a little quiet."

Sookie nodded, "Okay, we'll talk later. Want me to drop you off at home?"

"Can we go to your house for a little while? I don't want to be alone right now," Lorelai replied.

Sookie smiled, "Of course."

* * *

Lorelai stayed at Sookie's for the rest of the afternoon. They talked while Jackson was still out of the house. She stayed for dinner and for a movie after dinner before she realized she needed to give Jackson and Sookie time alone since they were newlyweds. Lorelai pulled up to the town square. She stopped in front of the diner and looked inside where Luke was wiping down the counter. He had his back to her. She climbed out of the car and headed into the diner.

"We're closed," Luke said hearing the bells ring out.

Lorelai sighed, "I know. Look, I didn't come here to make up, or to try to get you to forgive me, or talk. I wouldn't even have come here at all but I had a really bad day and I really, really need a cup of coffee. Just pretend I'm not me. I'm Mimi, a new customer. I've never been in here before. I was just walking down the street and I spotted this place. 'Ooh, hey, nice place.' And I came in. Now Mimi is going to pour herself a cup of coffee and sit over here way far away from you, and she promises, just as soon as she's done, she will rinse out her own cup and leave," she said as she walked over to the coffee pot. She made sure to grab the decaf one. She was keeping an eye on her caffeine intake for the baby.

"That's decaf," Luke pointed out.

"I know, Mimi drinks decaf," Lorelai replied. She sat down at the counter far from Luke, "This is the second time I let myself do this."

"Do what?" Luke asked.

"Think I finally found it."

"Found what?"

"Love, comfort, safety," Lorelai listed off.

Luke sighed, "Ah."

"I mean, first with Max, which of course, I screwed up, and then with Christopher, which of course, all the elements of the universe got together to screw up," Lorelai complained.

Luke nodded, "Yup, it's tough when the universe is against you. That's like taking on the Manhattan garbage union."

"I always thought if he could just get it together, grow up – maybe we could do it. Maybe we could really be a family, in the stupid, traditional 'Dan Quayle, golden retriever, grow old together, wear matching jogging suits' kind of way. And then he did get it together – he became that guy. . . and he gets to be that guy with her. Chris is gonna have a baby with his girlfriend. He's gonna marry her. . .and he's gonna be there for her while she's pregnant and he's gonna be there with her while her child grows up, and he's gonna be there for her while she does. . . whatever it is she does. And I am in exactly the same place that I was in before," Lorelai said. She felt tears once again threatening to spill. Luckily Luke wasn't looking to see the tears fall.

"Is that so bad? I mean, you got Rory," Luke pointed out.

Lorelai nodded, "Yes, I do." And little baby here, she added in her head.

"You got friends, you got a house, a job, apparently an iron stomach," Luke replied.

"No, it's not so bad. I'm lucky, I know. I just. . .I feel like I'm never going to have it. . .the whole package, you know? That person, that couple life, and I swear, I hate admitting it because I fancy myself Wonder Woman, but. . .I really want I; the whole package," Lorelai admitted tearfully. She was completely vulnerable at this point and didn't care if Luke saw her.

Luke grabbed a donut and put it on a plate sliding it towards her, "You'll get it."

Lorelai shook her head, "No, I won't."

"Yes you will," Luke added.

Lorelai looked over at him, "How do you know?"

"I know."

"How do you know?" she repeated.

"Because I know, okay? I know. Now eat your donut," Luke ordered.

"I'm really not very hungry," Lorelai said weakly.

"Well, take it with you. You will be later," Luke replied.

Lorelai nodded, "Okay," she pulled a few bills out of her purse to pay. As she grabbed the bills, the ultrasound picture fell out from her last appointment. She liked to keep it in her purse, so it was always close to her. She failed to notice it as it fluttered to the ground.

Luke waved her off, "Forget it, first time customers are on the house. Mimi, was it?"

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah," she said putting her bills back in the purse and walking towards the door.

"Come again, Mimi," Luke said. He noticed something lying on the floor where Lorelai had just been sitting. He walked over and scooped the black and white picture up from the ground, "Hey you dropped something Mimi."

"Oh," Lorelai said walking over. Her eyes widened when she saw what Luke held in his hand. She tried to snatch it back from him hoping that he was clueless and had no idea what the picture was.

Luke studied the picture and realized what it was. He remembered seeing one from Liz when she found out she was pregnant with Jess years ago. "Is this…are you….?" He asked.

Lorelai closed her eyes as tears started to stream down her face. This is not how she wanted Luke to find out. Was there any good way for him to find out anyways?

"Lorelai," Luke said forgetting that fact that she was Mimi. He didn't care at the moment. "Lorelai, are you…" he asked not finding the right words. "Are you pregnant?" he asked finally.

Lorelai nodded silently as more tears began to fall. She opened her eyes to look at Luke. She registered the shocked look on his face, "I'm pregnant," she admitted quietly. She sat down at the table and rested her head in her hands.

Luke sat down placing the picture in the center of the table, "How?" he asked unsure of what to say.

Lorelai felt a small chuckle escape from her lips, "Well if I have to explain the birds and bees to you Luke. I get you're a bachelor but come on you know how babies are made."

Luke interrupted, "I don't mean how, I mean…"

"Whose is it?" Lorelai guessed.

"Yeah."

Lorelai ducked her head avoiding his gaze, "It doesn't matter."

"It does matter, he should know," Luke said. "Does he know?"

"No he doesn't know. It doesn't matter Luke. I can do this myself," Lorelai replied still avoiding his gaze.

"It does matter; he needs to be there," Luke said sternly, "For you and for his kid."

Lorelai lifted her head staring at him and slammed her hands down on the table, "Damn it Luke. It doesn't matter!" she yelled standing up from her chair. "He can't be there for me!"

"What do you mean he can't?" Luke asked confused.

"He just can't!" Lorelai sighed, "His girlfriend is pregnant," she admitted quietly.

"What?"

Lorelai took a deep breath as she began to pace around the diner trying to find a way to explain everything to Luke. She stopped her pacing, "The baby is Christopher's. He and I were together at Sookie's wedding, we…well you know how babies are made. Then he gets a call from her and she said she was pregnant. So he left to be that guy since he missed it all with Rory. We were trying to make it work and everything fell apart," she said as more tears fell down her face.

"Lorelai…"

"Then of course, I find out I'm pregnant. And it's his baby and he's not going to be there," she said in between sobs. "He's not going to be there for me, he's going to be there for her. I'm all alone. You know what I don't even need him, I raised Rory by myself and she turned out great. Why the hell shouldn't this kid?"

Luke unsure of what to say or do did the one thing that he and Lorelai never did. He crossed the diner and wrapped her in his arms. Lorelai tensed up at first but soon wrapped her arms around Luke. She placed her head on his shoulder as she sobbed.

"It's not fair Luke."

"Shhh," Luke whispered as he held onto her.

"I don't need him but sometimes I just wish he could be here," Lorelai admitted quietly. "It just hurts Luke." Hot tears felt onto the flannel-clad shoulder she rested her head on. "It just hurts."

Luke held onto her tighter, "Shhh its okay. You'll be okay," he whispered. He hated seeing her like this. He hated to see her hurting, to see her crying when he knew that there wasn't anything he could do about this.

Lorelai squeezed tighter to Luke nuzzling her head in the crook of his neck. She sniffled as her tears stopped. She closed her eyes as Luke comforted her; running his hand through her hair and down her back trying to soothe her, placing a kiss on her forehead. At any other time this might have been weird but right now she just loved the comfort Luke could provide. For someone who acted so gruff all the time, he sure could comfort someone. He felt safe. He felt comfortable. He felt like her protector at that moment.

Eventually Lorelai pulled away from him, "I ruined your shirt," she said softly.

"What?" Luke asked.

"I cried and I ruined your shirt. Now your shirt's all wet, all because I cried," Lorelai replied. "Your poor flannel."

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "I don't care. I'll just wash it."

Lorelai nodded, "Sorry for crying that wasn't my intention. I should go home."

"Let me walk you home."

"I drove," Lorelai replied meekly.

"Then I'll drive you home. You're upset. I just want to make sure you get home safe."

Luke just wanted to make sure she got home safe. Luke her protector. Luke who has always been there for her. Lorelai nodded and handed her keys over to Luke. He picked up the ultrasound picture from the table and passed it off to Lorelai before walking her out of the diner. He opened the passenger door to her jeep and helped her inside before climbing in the driver's side. Lorelai ran her fingers over the picture as he drove.

"You're the third person I told. Rory knows of course, and Sookie knows," Lorelai said softly. "I was going to tell you at some point before the town because you're my best friend too. I just didn't know how. I'm used to the idea of having another baby; I'm even a little excited but today was just…not my day. I want this baby, I really do. I already love him or her; Sookie and I went shopping for the baby today. I just don't know if I can do this again, not alone. It just seems so much harder this time around."

Luke pulled up in front of her house and cut the jeep off before turning to face her, "You're the strongest person I know Lorelai. You can do this. Hell you can do so much more than this. Rory's a great kid and that's all because of you, not him. You're a great mom, this kid is lucky to have you."

Lorelai smiled, "Okay." His words had reassured her. If Luke said she could handle this then she could. Luke wouldn't lie. He believed in her. "Can you get the bags out of the car?" she asked before getting out of the jeep and heading inside.

Luke grabbed the bags from the backseat and followed Lorelai to the door. She opened the front door since it was unlocked and walked inside. Luke followed her inside and shut the door. He placed her keys on the table beside the door. He found her in the living room curled up on the couch. Luke set the shopping bags down and grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch covering her up.

Lorelai closed her eyes still holding onto the ultrasound picture, "Thank you Luke."

Luke smiled, "No problem."

Luke turned and walked out of the living room. He shut the door behind him as he left. As he walked back to the diner, he thought about everything that just happened. How Lorelai was pregnant, how Christopher was the father. How much he wanted to hurt Christopher for putting Lorelai in this position again. How much he wanted to hurt Christopher for never being there for Lorelai and for Rory when they needed it.

Luke knew that Lorelai could do all of this on her own. But he also knew that even if she could do it on her own, she was going to need help. As ironic as that sounded. Of course, he would be there for her just like he always was. There was no question about that. He was going to be there for Lorelai and the new baby.

* * *

**So I kept their reunion similar to on the show. I want to say one thing, there will be more Luke/Lorelai interaction focused around the baby. Just because he comforted her now doesn't mean they won't fight over certain issues like whether or not she should tell Christopher. But remember this is a Luke/Lorelai story.**

**More Luke/Lorelai in next chapter as well.**

**Please leave a review. I thrive on your thoughts on the story!**


	5. Chapter 5

"See you Friday, doc," Lorelai said.

"See you Friday," Rory repeated.

Lorelai hung up her phone after calling her daughter to tell her about her alarm clock slaughtering dream which Rory interpreted as her mother's subconscious saying she was jealous that Christopher and Sherry were together and having a baby. That Christopher was going to be there for Sherry and their baby while she was going to take care of her baby all by herself. Lorelai hated that interpretation but she knew Rory was right. It was either that or the fact that she subconsciously wanted to marry Luke and have his babies. The Christopher interpretation made more sense. She wasn't necessarily jealous that Sherry had Christopher. She was just plain jealous of the fact that Sherry had someone to share all the precious baby moments and the not so precious moments with. She had someone to share the late night feedings with, someone that would go out of their way to fulfill her cravings in the middle of the night, and someone that would go baby shopping with her and help set up the nursery.

Lorelai groaned and pulled the covers over her head, safe in her own little cocoon. Things were getting better. Rory was coming home tomorrow. Sookie was very supportive. She was friends with Luke again. She was used to the idea of being pregnant and a little excited. Things were definitely looking up. She finally climbed out of bed and headed over to her full length mirror.

Lorelai lifted up her shirt as she stood in front of the mirror. She rubbed her hand over her belly, "Did you grow over night? At this rate you're not going to be a secret much longer. Your sister comes home tomorrow and I assure you after that I will tell everyone about you," she said talking to the baby. "Also that freaky dream I just had better not mean there is two of you in there. Mommy can't handle two babies by herself. Understand?"

Satisfied with her talk with baby, Lorelai began her morning routine of getting ready for the Inn. After showering and choosing an outfit that somewhat hid her baby bump, Lorelai headed out the door, she was a little behind schedule having stayed in bed longer than usual so she would have to skip a morning visit to the diner. Once leaving her house, she headed straight for the Inn.

* * *

Lorelai sighed and hung up the phone. Her mother had called and scolded her for not calling since she knew that they were coming home from their vacation today. The phone call reminded her that she had dinner with her parents tomorrow. And not only would she have to tell them that she and Christopher were no longer together, she would also have to explain to them that she was pregnant. Emily would suspect something was up when she refused alcohol. She was not looking forward to dinner. At least she managed to get Rory out of dinner so she wouldn't have to witness the bloodbath that was sure to ensue.

Lorelai decided she had enough of the Inn for now and since it was nearing lunchtime, she decided to head over to the diner. She had already told Sookie about how she and Luke were talking again which Sookie was thrilled about. After a run-in with Taylor about the newest festival he had thought up for Stars Hollow, Lorelai headed into the diner.

"Oh Lucas," Lorelai called out walking into the diner. She smiled and waved to Miss Patty and Babette as she made her way over to the counter. She kept her purse in front of her since her shirt was not doing the best job of hiding her bump now. She kept her purse in her lap as to conceal the bump.

"I told you not to call me that," Luke replied.

"But Luke I haven't been in all summer, we haven't talked in a long time, I want to call you Lucas," Lorelai replied, "Just let it happen. Now coffee me. I need it after this morning."

"What happened this morning?" Luke asked as he began pouring her a cup of coffee.

"Well first Kirk came by the Inn and tried to sell me his new skincare line he's developed. He called it 'Hay There' because apparently cows eat hay. He thinks because cows eat hay that's the reason their skin never wrinkles. And that's the difference between cows and humans according to Kirk," Lorelai explained.

"Cows eat grass though," Luke pointed out as he slid the cup of coffee towards her.

Lorelai nodded, "Exactly but 'Grass There' is a bad name. So now I have a whole case of this stuff sitting at the Inn. Then right after Kirk leaves, my mom calls and scolds me for not calling her since she arrived home from vacation today. Then she went on about dinner tomorrow night and I realized that dinner tomorrow is going to be more of a disaster than usual," she said taking a sip of her coffee. "This is decaf."

Luke leaned across the counter and whispered, "After last night, you're getting decaf from now on. I'll make sure of that."

Lorelai pouted, "I never should have told you my secret," she whispered. She tried to pretend she was mad but having Luke watching out for her in just this small way was comforting. Before Luke could stand back up, Lorelai reached out and placed his hand over his, "Hey, thanks for last night by the way."

Luke nodded, "No problem. You know I'm here for you, right?"

Lorelai smiled softly, "I know Luke. It explains the decaf."

Luke chuckled, "Just watching out for you."

Those words and the decaf coffee reminded Lorelai of her dream that she just had this morning where she and Luke were married and apparently expecting twins. It was like the dream was just mocking her reminding her that she was pregnant but not married. And that the child's father was not around at the moment. Her stomach grumbled breaking her from her thoughts. She looked up to see Luke looking at her with a curious look on his face.

"Okay, now that I have the coffee, not exactly what I wanted but I'll settle for good reason, now I need a burger and some fries," Lorelai said.

"Fine but you're getting lettuce and tomato on that burger," Luke replied before turning around and walking into the kitchen giving Lorelai no time to protest to him trying to make her eat healthy.

Lorelai sat there drumming her fingers on the counter and sipping at the coffee while she waited on her food. As she sat there, she was approached by Miss Patty.

"Hello dear," Miss Patty said sitting on the stool next to Lorelai. Patty and Babette were curious about the scene between Luke and Lorelai just now. Him leaning on the counter, both of them whispering and exchanging small smiles. Not too out of the ordinary but since Lorelai had not been into the diner all summer, they were curious.

Lorelai had managed to avoid any close encounters with the gossips since she found out about the pregnancy. She feared that somehow they had a sixth sense and would be able to tell she was pregnant. However it looked like her avoidance of the gossips was not going to last much longer.

"Hey Patty," Lorelai replied.

"So when's our Rory getting back from her trip?" Miss Patty asked.

"I'm picking her up tomorrow, just in time for the festival," Lorelai said.

Miss Patty leaned in closer to Lorelai, "So tell me dear what's going on with you and Luke?"

"Me and Luke?" Lorelai questioned, "There's nothing going on with me and Luke. Nothing at all."

"Oh don't play coy; I saw how the two of you were talking just now. And suddenly you're paying a visit to the diner again; you haven't been in all summer."

Lorelai sighed, "I've just been busy; preoccupied with Rory leaving and with the Inn. As for Luke and I, we're just friends."

Miss Patty groaned. She was disappointed. She hoped something was going on between the two and she was hoping that she would have first dibs on the gossip. She got up from the stool, "Okay then Lorelai," she said walking away.

Lorelai turned and watched as Miss Patty walked back to the table. She started talking with Babette. Babette frowned as Miss Patty explained to her what she had just talked to Lorelai about. Lorelai shook her head at their attempts to get gossip. If only they knew that the juicy gossip she had was nothing to do with Luke and everything to do with what she was currently trying to hide under her shirt.

"Next time you're getting a salad instead of fries," Luke said as he set the plate down in front of Lorelai.

"Are you really watching out for me or are you trying to kill me?" Lorelai asked. "I feel like it might be a little bit of both."

"Just eat your food," Luke grumbled.

"Jeez he's nice for all of two seconds," Lorelai replied as she started eating her food. As with the coffee just minutes early, she could try to pretend that she was mad but at the same time it was comforting to know that Luke was watching out for her. And for the baby since he was now trying to control what she ate.

Since she was left alone to eat her lunch that left Lorelai to her thoughts; her thoughts drifted from whether or not she should tell Christopher, to Rory coming home tomorrow, to telling the town and even worse telling her parents, to where she was going to put the baby, and then finally to Luke and just how he said he was going to be there for her.

After finishing her food, Luke came by to clear her plate. "You even ate the lettuce and tomato I put on your burger?"

Lorelai nodded, "I ate it. I didn't even try to hide it anywhere."

"I'm surprised."

"I'm full of surprises," Lorelai replied. "Hey Luke what are you doing tonight?"

Luke seemed startled. "Why are you asking?"

"I was thinking that we're friends but we don't really ever do anything together. I mean I go shopping with Sookie, I hang out at her house but you and I don't really do much. Plus Rory is still out of town. I was thinking we could have a movie night. As kind of a thank you for being there for me last night."

"You don't have to do that," Luke said.

"I know that. And you don't have to come over. I was going to do a movie night anyways just to get my mind off things that happened yesterday but I thought I would see if you wanted to join me."

"Okay. I'll come over," Luke replied.

Lorelai smiled, "Great. I'll stop by the video store and pick us up a couple movies. What do you want to see?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know."

"Well, come on, tell me. I don't want to get something you've seen."

"Don't worry about it. I haven't seen anything."

Lorelai sighed, "People always say that."

"Well, with me, it's true."

"_Casablanca_?" Lorelai asked.

Luke shook his head, "Nope."

Lorelai gasped, "You have never seen _Casablanca_? Are you kidding?"

"Just get anything, please."

"_Chinatown_?" Lorelai guessed.

"Anything at all."

"_Bonnie and Clyde_?" Lorelai asked.

"A video game would be nice also."

"_It Happened One Night, His Girl Friday, Treasure of the Sierra Madre?"_ Lorelai listed, "_Diner_?", she asked taking one last guess.

Luke thought, "I saw _Mr. and Mrs. Bridge_."

Lorelai was shocked; she raised her hands up, "Oh. My house, eight o'clock. We have such work to do."

Luke nodded, "I'll see you there."

Lorelai got up from her stool grabbing her purse in the process, "Oh and bring some food with you. I suggest apple pie," she said before leaving the diner.

* * *

"Hey, you're here," Lorelai said opening up the front door and finding Luke on her doorstep, "And you brought food. Food always makes you welcome in my house."

"You told me to bring food," Luke said as he stepped inside Lorelai's house and walked towards the living room.

"Okay put the food there," Lorelai said as she pointed to the coffee table as she walked through the living room, "I'm going upstairs to change."

"Change?" Luke asked as Lorelai started walking up the stairs, "What's wrong with what you have on?"

"This is a work outfit Luke, I need comfy movie-watching clothes," Lorelai replied continuing her journey upstairs. "I'll just be a minute."

Luke set the take-out bags he brought down on the coffee table next to the assortment of food Lorelai had already set out, "Why did you order chinese when you asked me to bring food?"

"Because," Lorelai yelled back from upstairs, "I need options Luke. Plus Rory and I can eat the Chinese tomorrow when she comes home."

"You could have just ordered the Chinese tomorrow then," Luke called back.

Lorelai began her journey back downstairs dressed in sweatpants, a baggy jacket that was halfway unzipped revealing a blue tank top underneath. The jacket helped to hide the baby bump a little, "Leftover, stale Chinese is better than fresh Chinese. Rory and I both think so. By ordering it tonight, it will be perfect tomorrow."

"Your logic astounds me," Luke replied as he took a seat on the couch.

Lorelai headed into the kitchen. She reappeared a few minutes later with a beer in one hand and bottle of water in the other, "So since I can't drink this, I brought the beer in for you. Plus I figured I could give it to you and it would prevent it from going to waste," she said handing Luke the beer.

"You're just giving this to me out of convenience?" Luke asked.

"Pretty much."

Luke looked out the coffee table where apples were set out, "Are those for me too? Trying to find something I would eat?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Actually the apples are for me."

Luke was shocked, "You're eating apples?"

"It's a pregnancy craving. The baby loves apples," Lorelai explained, "It was the same way with Rory." She picked up the remote and pointed out the TV, "Now get comfortable, I can't have you moving around during the movie."

"Can I ask you a question first?"

"That was a question Luke."

"I mean about…"

"My baby?" Lorelai guessed interrupting Luke. She sighed, "Sure."

"What are you going to do about the baby? I mean are you going to tell the town?" Luke asked.

"I have to tell the town, they are going to figure it out for themselves anyways soon. I've gained plenty of weight already. I figured I would tell everyone when Rory got home."

"What are you going to say?" Luke asked.

"Um, I'm pregnant?" Lorelai said as more of a question than an answer. "I don't know what more there is to say really besides 'Hey I'm pregnant there will be a new Stars Hollow resident sometime in February.'"

"February?"

Lorelai nodded, "That's what the doctor said. Can we watch the movie now?" she asked trying to get off the topic of her baby and the pregnancy in general.

"They're going to ask questions, you know that. They are good at that," Luke replied.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "And I'll answer the questions I feel like answering. They don't have to know every single detail of my life. I'm free to leave some things out. They can know I'm pregnant, they don't have to know anything else," she snapped, "Everyone I told already knows exactly what I want them to know. I don't have to explain myself to everyone."

"I'm sorry Lorelai," Luke apologized.

"The only other people I have to tell what's going on are my parents. Which by the way I'm already dreading," Lorelai said. She quickly wiped at a tear that rolled down her cheek, "I can already imagine their reaction and it's not pretty."

"Lorelai…"

"Can we just watch the movie now? That's why I invited you over. I just wanted one night to get my mind off of this before I have to tell my parents tomorrow and whenever I decide to tell the town, which might also happen tomorrow. So movie now?" Lorelai asked turning towards Luke.

"Yeah, yeah movie time," Luke replied.

Once again Lorelai picked up the remote and pointed it at the TV before she pressed play, she turned towards Luke again, "Why were you asking anyways? You're not usually interested in the town gossip or really anything that goes on in this town. Why do you care what I'm going to tell people?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk about this. You wanted to watch the movie."

"I did. I do. We are going to watch the movie. I was just wondering why you're so curious what I'm going to tell the town. Again you're not one for town gossip. You said it's all useless."

"Just curious," Luke replied, "Like I said I'm here for you."

A mischievous smile crossed Lorelai's face, "If you're really here for me, you can go to dinner with my parents tomorrow instead of me. I'll dress up nice, fix your hair, do your makeup and you can tell them that Christopher is back with his girlfriend and that you're pregnant. You can totally take my place. Take all the heat off of me."

Luke raised his eyebrows, "And your parents won't think anything is up if I show up to dinner saying that I'm you?"

"Well they have been away all summer; they may have forgotten what I looked like. You have blue eyes, I have blue eyes," Lorelai countered, "It might work."

"I already said I'm here for you, I will help you out when you need it but you have to tell your parents," Luke replied. "I can't tell them for you."

Lorelai nodded, "I know." She pointed the remote at the TV once again, "Okay any more questions? Can we finally start the movie now?"

"Go ahead, start the movie."

* * *

An hour into the movie_, _Lorelai started shifting around on the couch. Luke looked over at her as she started moving around more on the couch. She unzipped her jacket the rest of the way.

Lorelai noticed Luke looking at her, "What?" she asked, "It's not like I'm stripping, I'm just taking off my jacket, it's hot."

"One of your rules was not moving around during the movie," Luke replied.

"I just wanted to take my jacket off. Plus my back is hurting a little bit. I'm just trying to get comfortable," Lorelai sighed. "Now I'm going to take my jacket off and this whole pregnancy thing I've been hiding is going to be revealed just don't stare at it."

"Stare at what?" Luke asked.

Lorelai slipped off her jacket and shifted down into the couch that relieved a little bit of pressure on her back, "Hello, the baby bump," she said pointing to her belly. "I think you're the first one to actually see it without plenty of layers on top to kind of hide it."

Luke's eyes remained on her baby bump as Lorelai turned her attention back to the TV. After a few minutes she could feel Luke's gaze on her. She glanced over at him to see him still staring at her belly. Lorelai placed a hand on her belly.

"Okay I know I'm pregnant and it's glaringly obvious now. I swear this is bigger than it was yesterday. Just please stop staring at it," Lorelai pleaded.

"I'm sorry," Luke replied, "I just…"

"I know, it's new, it's different. It's only going to get bigger so get familiar with it. I can't really hide it anymore," Lorelai replied. "Hey if I lay down can I put my legs in your lap? I'm pretty sure that's how I'm going to get comfortable."

"Yeah of course."

Lorelai smiled and laid down on the couch. She turned on her back stretching out placing her legs in Luke's lap. She turned back to the movie for just a second before glancing back at Luke, "Do not tickle my feet," she warned.

"You're ticklish?" Luke asked amused.

"Don't even think about it Luke," Lorelai warned narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm serious."

Luke put his hands up in the air, "I won't tickle you, I promise."

Lorelai smiled, "Good no tickling. Now if you wanted to you know massage my feet, I would not object to that in any way. In fact a foot massage would be great."

"I'm not massaging your feet," Luke replied.

Lorelai pouted, "What kind of best friend are you?"

"Aren't we supposed to be watching the movie?" Luke asked.

Lorelai sighed, "Yeah, yeah," she said turning back to the TV.

As the movie continued playing, Luke kept stealing glances at Lorelai. She seemed to keep one hand on her belly as she watched the movie. He couldn't help but smile when she laughed at something that happened on screen; both her laugh and her smile were wonderful to him. If it was possible, she seemed more beautiful to him at this moment than any others before. She seemed to have that pregnancy glow that people said all pregnant women had. He never really thought that was true until now. If anyone were to walk in at this moment and had no knowledge of the situation at hand, they would perhaps think that they were a couple, a couple who were expecting. But that wasn't the truth. They were just friends. He was helping her through this. She wasn't pregnant with his baby, she was pregnant with Christopher's baby. He had to admit to himself that he was crazy for thinking anything romantic could happen between the two of them anytime soon.

As the movie ended, Luke noticed that Lorelai had been quiet for a few minutes. He looked down at the end of the couch and found her fast asleep. He carefully picked up her legs and scooted off the couch placing her legs back down. He walked over to her and plucked the remote from her hands.

"I was watching that," she muttered sleepily.

"The movie's over Lorelai," Luke whispered. He turned the TV off before setting the remote down on the table. He grabbed the blanket from off the couch and repeated the same motions as the night before. He placed the blanket over her, tucking her in.

Trying his best to keep quiet, Luke began to pick up the various food items from the table. He carried the leftover food to the kitchen and put it away. On his second trip to the living room, he picked up their plates and carried them to the kitchen placing them in the sink. Once their movie night mess was somewhat picked up, Luke left the house.

* * *

**Next: Rory comes home, Lorelai goes to dinner with her parents, and possibly the town finds out.**

**Reviews are welcome and appreciated so please leave one below!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey Gilmore!" Lorelai called out spotting her daughter across the room.

Rory smiled, "Mom!"

Lorelai and Rory began running towards each other but Rory stopped the closer she got to her mother. She could now clearly see the baby bump Lorelai was sporting. Lorelai noticed Rory's eyes fall to the bump; she sighed and looked back up at Rory.

"Yes I am now showing, well I mean I have been showing but this is the first time you get to see," Lorelai said looking down at her bump. "Rory this is your soon-to-be brother or sister, baby this is your amazing older sister I told you about."

"It's just weird seeing you like this," Rory said, "You're pregnant."

Lorelai nodded, "Yes hun, we already discussed that."

"I know but just seeing it, is a little strange. Wait you're showing, I can see that but have you told the town?" Rory asked. "Or have you been hiding this? Who all knows?"

Lorelai shook her head, "I've been hiding this. Only you, Sookie and Luke know right now. I think though when we get back home, I may just go ahead and tell the town. Wear a shirt that shows the bump off and let everyone just talk. They don't need to know details."

"Wait, back up Luke knows?" Rory asked. "I thought you weren't talking to Luke."

"Ohh yeah I forgot to tell you. Luke and I made up," Lorelai said, "Let's go get your stuff and I'll explain everything to you. Oh! And I can also give you your presents and tell you about the story involving gummi bears and the drug sniffing dogs."

"You've done a lot today haven't you?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded excitedly, "I have a lot to tell you."

Lorelai showed Rory her presents first before they walked off towards the baggage claim. As Rory retrieved her bags, Lorelai launched into the details of her and Luke's reunion, she included the details of her first trip back to the diner complete with the conversation with Miss Patty, and included her movie night that she coerced Luke into just the night before.

* * *

"So you still haven't told Dad?" Rory asked as Lorelai deleted a message from Christopher on the answering machine.

"Nope," Lorelai answered shortly.

"Are you going to tell him?" Rory asked.

"When I feel like it."

"Mom, he's the baby's dad he should know."

Lorelai sighed, "Rory can we please not talk about this today? I'm already dreading dinner tonight with my parents, which by the way you don't have to go to, and I have to face the town. I just want to enjoy the festival today. So please no talk of your dad, okay?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to go to dinner to be a distraction?" Rory asked.

"No, you've got Dean coming over. I'll be fine. I have to tell them about both the baby and about Christopher. Telling them about Christopher is bad enough on its own so to tell them that I'm pregnant with no intentions of marrying the child's father, this dinner is sure to be just terrible," Lorelai replied. "So you can stay and make kissy faces with Dean."

Rory nodded, "Okay. I'm going to change."

"What's wrong with what you have on?" Lorelai asked.

"I just want to look nice," Rory said disappearing into her room.

"Hurry up, I told Sookie we would stop by her house first," Lorelai yelled through Rory's closed door.

After stopping by Sookie's and quickly leaving since Sookie and Jackson were arguing over the way Sookie decided to decorate their house, Lorelai and Rory headed for the town square. The outfit Lorelai had picked out made it more evident that she was pregnant. Having it out in the open was a way to tell the town. Sure she could just tell Patty or Babette and they would spread it around but still this was some way of telling everyone. Walking into the crowd of people, more and more stares were directed Lorelai's way. Lorelai's usually flat belly was now replaced by a baby bump. People began whispering to one another while keeping their eyes locked on Lorelai and Rory.

"Okay maybe this was a bad idea," Lorelai whispered to Rory as they walked through the crowd. She ran her hand over her belly, "Everyone is staring."

"Here it comes," Rory whispered when she noticed Miss Patty and Babette approaching.

"Lorelai, dear," Miss Patty said. She glanced between Lorelai's baby bump and her face before finally speaking, "Is there something you want to tell us?"

"Something you've been hiding sugah?" Babette added in.

Lorelai still had her hand on her belly, "Well I think it's pretty obvious don't you?" she asked. She sighed, "Yes I'm pregnant. In February, Stars Hollow will have one new resident."

"Who is the father?" Babette screeched.

"Is it Luke?" Miss Patty asked remembering how close the two were in the diner the day before. The secret smiles, the whispering could very well mean something, especially now learning that Lorelai was pregnant.

"I did see him leaving your house late last night," Babette interjected. She gasped, "Are you and Luke having a baby together?"

"And you did say he dropped her off the other night and carried stuff inside for her." Miss Patty clasped her hands together smiling, "Just think of how cute that baby will be, those beautiful blue eyes on a little baby."

Babette smiled, "That would just be darling."

Miss Patty turned towards Lorelai, "So are you and Luke together now?"

Taylor, who just happened to be walking by, joined in the conversation, "You and Luke are together? I cannot stand for this; imagine what this could possibly mean for the town."

"Well Taylor," Miss Patty interjected, "She's pregnant and we're thinking that Luke is the father."

"You're pregnant?" Taylor asked loudly causing the various townspeople around them to stop and stare.

Lorelai interrupted, "We're not discussing the father of my child," she said looking around at everyone who was staring at her, "This is not town business, it's mine. And Rory's because she's the sister but that's really it. The father of my child is not up for town discussion. All that needs to be said is that I'm pregnant."

"But Lorelai…" Miss Patty said as Lorelai started walking away.

"I'm not talking about this anymore Patty. Rory and I are just going to enjoy the festival," Lorelai replied. She rolled her eyes at Rory, "And so it begins."

"You know that they are nosy," Rory replied, "They like the gossip. They want to have the latest news. You knew it was going to be like this today."

Lorelai sighed, "I know but the father is none of their damn business unless I choose to tell them. I don't even have to tell them anything about the pregnancy; I could keep this all to myself."

"I know. Do you just want to go home? We don't have to go to the festival. People are just going to continue to ask you questions, you know that."

Lorelai shook her head, "I'm fine Rory. I can't hide out at home anymore, I've basically been doing that all summer. All summer I have been either at home, Sookie's, or the Inn. I'm not hiding out; they can just get over their nosiness. I want to enjoy the festival."

"Even with that annoying song playing?" Rory asked pointing towards the band.

"Okay, the festival might be better without that song playing because I know it's going to be stuck in my head all day but I still want to enjoy the festival before dinner tonight."

"Festival it is then."

* * *

Lorelai groaned, "Oh my god, is it appropriate to hang a sign around my neck that says 'Yes I'm pregnant but please don't ask about baby?'" she asked looking at Rory.

"They're concerned," Rory replied.

"And annoying."

Rory laughed, "You sound like Luke."

Lorelai gasped, "I do not sound like Luke."

Rory nodded and laughed again, "Yes you do. Let's see complaining about the townspeople, saying they have nothing better to do than gossip, going on a rant earlier about the people and how everyone should just mind their own business. That's someone that Luke would do. No wait it's something that Luke does all the time."

"Oh my god pregnancy is turning me into a grumpy hermit," Lorelai replied sticking out her bottom lip as she pouted. "By the end of this pregnancy, I'm just going to fade away into oblivion. I guess I should go ahead and start wearing flannel and backwards baseball cap. Start yelling at Taylor more often. Participate in no town events. Start yelling at people that coffee will kill them."

Rory patted her mother's arm, "Alright now you're just talking crazy. The whole coffee will kill you thing definitely put it over the edge drama queen."

"You're right, I am talking crazy. I will just blame it on the hormones," Lorelai replied. "Why would I ever yell at people telling them that coffee was bad? I love coffee."

Rory half-listened to more ways her mother described herself as not becoming Luke trying to prove Rory wrong. She was focused on the scene before her. Jess and some girl were making out just across the way against a tree. Her mother seemed to notice that her attention was no longer focused on her and on something else. She turned her full attention to her mother as they started arguing over both Dean and Jess. She told her mother everything, how she thought Jess came back because he liked and how she kissed him at Sookie's wedding. She listened as her mother went on and on about how she needed to choose either Jess or Dean. She was slowly growing frustrated with how their discussion was going, her mother wasn't telling her anything that she didn't already know.

"All right, I get it, I . . .just stop!" Rory shouted.

Lorelai and Rory both turned at the sound of Dean's voice, "Hey!" he called before making his way across the street. "Hey," he said as he approached.

"Hi," Rory replied.

"Hi Dean," Lorelai said.

"I thought your plane didn't get in 'til six," Rory said.

"Well, I managed to get an earlier flight," Dean replied.

Lorelai sighed, "Well, I'm off to dinner with the parents."

"Do you have…" Dean asked looking at Rory.

"No, she's off the hook. You guys have all night to. . .talk. Enjoy. Good to have you back, Dean," Lorelai said glancing between both Rory and Dean.

"Thanks," Dean replied.

"See you later," Lorelai said giving a small wave before walking away.

"Is your mom pregnant?" Dean asked once Lorelai had walked away from them.

Rory nodded, "She is but don't ask her about it, she's not up to answering questions on that issue just yet. Oh and if you hear the rumor that Luke is the father, it's not true. Miss Patty and Babette seem convinced that he is but mom isn't discussing anything with the town."

"Okay…." Dean trailed off unsure of what to say now. "I missed you."

Rory smiled, "I missed you too."

* * *

Lorelai stood in front of the Gilmore Mansion trying to work up the courage to ring the doorbell. The dress she was wearing somewhat hid the baby bump. Her coat added an extra layer to try and conceal the baby bump as much as possible. She wasn't going to have Emily Gilmore guess she was pregnant before she could tell her. Taking a deep breath, Lorelai reached out and rang the doorbell.

Emily answered the door, "Lorelai, nice to see you."

"Oh, sorry I'm late Mom," Lorelai replied.

"No, don't be sorry. That's what the warm setting was invented for," Emily replied, "Richard! Lorelai's here."

"Um, Mom, before we get the evening started and all, I want to tell you something," Lorelai said.  
"Well actually I need to tell you two things."

Emily sighed, "Well, tell me outside."

"No, I'll just do it here."

"Why?" Emily asked.

"Oh, there's just something about standing near the exit that's really working for me."

"You're being silly, you don't discuss things standing by a door. Come outside, come on," Emily said. She looked Lorelai up and down. "Have you gained weight? You're looking a little fuller."

Before Lorelai could respond Richard walked up. "I may have to take one more call tonight, Emily. Ben Stellen and I got cut off. Hello Lorelai."

"Well, come outside with us until he calls back. Lorelai's about to tell us something," Emily informed.

"Oh, perhaps that she's decided to buy an accurate timepiece," Richard teased.

Emily chuckled, "Oh, Richard," she said as they started walking towards the back patio, "Is Rory okay?"

Lorelai nodded "Oh, yes, Rory's fine, I'm fine, everything's fine, it's really not that big a deal," she lied. Being pregnant and single was a big deal, especially in Emily Gilmore's world.

Richard walked out onto the patio and headed towards the drink cart while Emily and Lorelai both took a seat, "What would you like to drink?"

"Oh um I'll just have a water," Lorelai replied watching Emily carefully.

"Are you sure?" Richard asked, "You usually ask for wine or a martini."

Lorelai locked eyes with Emily who was now giving her a curious look, "Uh yeah I'm sure just water tonight."

Richard poured Lorelai a glass of water and handed it to her before sitting down next to Emily. Lorelai sipped at her water while Emily shot her a knowing look. Lorelai sighed and set her water down on the table in front of her.

"I want to say something but I need you to completely listen until I say everything," Lorelai said. "Now as I said before I have two things to tell you."

Emily smiled, something rare that she did when Lorelai announced she had news, "I think I know where this is going."

"You do?" Lorelai questioned.

"Oh you do dear?" Richard asked turning to look at Emily.

Emily nodded, "Lorelai and Christopher are engaged."

"You and Christopher are engaged?" Richard asked now looking at Lorelai. "He should be here tonight then."

"Of course they're engaged Richard. I mean she's obviously pregnant. Can't you tell she's gained weight? And she refused wine or a martini which she never does. She never asks for just water. Her and Christopher are having another baby together. However this time they are going to do the right thing and get married," Emily said. "They will finally be a family."

Lorelai laughed in spite of yourself, "Well you're half-right."

"So you're not pregnant?" Richard asked.

"Well at least this time they'll wait until after they are married to have another child," Emily said.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Christopher and I are not engaged. In fact we're not even together."

"What?" Emily screeched, "You're not with Christopher?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Nope. But I am pregnant," she blurted out. She figured this was like taking off a bandage, just rip it off and get it all over with. That way pain is minimal, however with Emily Gilmore interrogating you pain was never minimal.

"Well if you're pregnant, why are you two not together?" Emily asked. Her lips formed a tight line as she thought of one possibility, "The baby is not Christopher's. You cheated on him with someone else and now you're having a baby."

Lorelai gasped, "Mom!"

"Well that would explain why you two can't get it together and finally be a family. You're running around like you have no responsibility in life, like you can flit from thing to thing. . ." Emily said.

Lorelai shook her head, "That's not true."

Emily continued, "…from man to man."

"I don't flit from man to man," Lorelai said. "The baby is Christopher's. He is the only one that is the father of this child. I didn't cheat on him like you so perfectly insinuated. I don't cheat on people. That's not the reason that Christopher and I are not together anymore."

"Then what's the reason? Emily asked. "I want to know why. I want a reason. I don't want any of this 'just because' and 'it just didn't work out' nonsense. I want a solid, adult reason why the father of my granddaughter and her mother can't seem to put a family together."

"His girlfriend is pregnant," Lorelai shouted.

"What?" Emily asked.

Lorelai sighed, "Sherry is pregnant, and when Christopher found out, he went back to her and that, Mother, is the reason."

"So Christopher left you for this woman? You he left you when he knew you were pregnant? That doesn't sound like Christopher," Emily said.

"That's because it's not Christopher. He found out at Sookie's wedding that Sherry was pregnant. I didn't find out for weeks after the fact," Lorelai replied. She grimaced; she was giving them too much information.

"Christopher doesn't know that you're pregnant?" Emily asked. She continued on before Lorelai could answer the question, "That's great then. I know Christopher and I know that if you called him up and told him you were pregnant that he would leave that woman and come back to you."

Lorelai shook her head, "I'm not doing that."

"You haven't told Christopher?" Richard asked.

"It doesn't matter if I have told him or not," Lorelai answered.

"He has a right to know. Just tell him. He will come home and then you can finally be a family. You, Rory, Christopher and the new baby. You'll be a family," Emily said now getting aggravated with Lorelai.

"Are they getting married?" Richard asked. "Christopher and Sherry are they getting married?"

"I don't know…probably," Lorelai answered.

"That's doesn't matter Richard!" Emily shouted. "Lorelai is pregnant; if anyone should be getting married it's her and Christopher. Not Christopher and that woman."

"Christopher and I are not getting married," Lorelai replied.

"That woman is pregnant too. He is going to marry her because that's the right thing to do and Christopher always does the right thing," Richard said ignoring Lorelai's comment.

"The right thing to do would be to marry Lorelai. They already have one child together and now they are having another child together," Emily said.

"Well he very well can't marry her when she won't even tell him that he's going to be a father," Richard said. "Christopher is with someone that actually told him he's going to be a father while Lorelai is keeping the information from him for whatever reason."

"I'm not keeping it from him," Lorelai replied.

"Then tell him you're pregnant," Emily said, "Call him and tell him. Tell him that you want to get married, he'll come back to you."

"I'm not doing that," Lorelai said, "I really don't want to discuss this anymore."

"Tell him Lorelai," Emily repeated.

"Mom, just please stop."

"Yes, Emily, please stop. You know that Lorelai never does anything unless she wants to – no matter the consequences to anyone else," Richard said.

Lorelai raised up her eyebrows, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Lorelai wants to be with Christopher, she told us that at the wedding," Emily said.

Richard nodded, "Yes, and now the wind has changed."

"Excuse me?" Lorelai asked.

"Christopher is living up to his responsibilities as he tried to do many years ago with Lorelai, then she turned him down and turned him away," Richard replied

Lorelai groaned, "I was sixteen."

"If Christopher has found someone who will actually allow him to be a father to his own child, then of course, that's what he's going to do," Richard said, "Lorelai is obviously not going to allow him to be the father to her child. She's not even going to tell him."

"His girlfriend is pregnant!" Lorelai shouted, "The woman he was with before me is pregnant. I think he has more of a responsibility to her than he does to me! I cannot tear apart a family."

"But he already has Rory with you," Emily interjected. "If anything, that woman is tearing apart your family."

"They're together again Mom. I've seen them together," Lorelai replied. "Why don't you get this? Christopher is with Sherry. He's having a baby with her."

"He's having a baby with you!" Emily yelled.

"And with Sherry. Still want to talk about what a great guy he is?" Lorelai asked sarcastically. "He has two women pregnant at the same time but to you two he's still a great guy. He's a guy who is doing the right thing and I'm still the one you're disappointed in. God, I'm sixteen again."

"At just like at sixteen you're not going to marry the father of your child. You think you can do anything by yourself and refuse help from anyone."

"Mom," Lorelai sighed, "I can do this by myself. I never said I was though. I never said I wasn't going to tell Christopher. You two are the one that decided that. I said that I'm not marrying Christopher; I'm not going to be with him just because I'm pregnant. I never said he wasn't going to be here for this child."

"But you could be a family with Christopher just as soon as you tell him," Emily replied.

Richard interrupted, "Lorelai had her chance for a family and she walked away from it. That was her choice. He has a chance to be a father and to be a family with this Sherry."

"He could have the chance with Lorelai now too," Emily said.

"She's refused that chance before. She's going to refuse it again. She had her chance before and she walked away from it, now she's walking away from it again," Richard said. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to my study," he said getting up from his chair and walking into the house.

"Richard! You do not walk out on me when we are having a discussion. Richard!" Emily shouted following Richard into the house.

Lorelai sighed and placed a hand down on her belly, "So those are your grandparents. And no that's not some act they are putting on, that is how really are. That's just a Friday night dinner. You have a lot to look forward to kid."

* * *

Lorelai pulled up in front of the diner and shut off her jeep. The diner was closed but that wasn't going to stop her from going in. As she walked through the door, the bells jingled her arrival.

"We're closed," Luke said with his back facing Lorelai.

"Luke you have to learn that line does not work on me," Lorelai said, "I don't play by the rules."

Luke turned around, "Hey how did dinner go?"

Lorelai walked across the diner and sat down on a stool, "Well I'm still alive right; I mean at least I think I'm still alive."

Luke nodded, "You're still alive."

"Oh that's good," Lorelai replied. "There's nothing like having your parents tell you that you're disappointed in you because you're not marrying the father of your child and the fact that you're not even with the father of your child."

Luke sat down next to her, "What happened?"

"I told them about baby and about Christopher. Well actually my mom guessed about the pregnancy because I believe one of the first things she asked me was whether or not I have gained weight because I'm looking fuller," Lorelai replied. She narrowed her eyes at Luke, "and don't dare agree with her. I know I have gained weight but I don't need people pointing it out."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Anyways, they're upset that I'm not marrying Christopher since we're having a child together. Emily thinks I should just call up Christopher and tell him because he would definitely come back to me then. But I can't do that. I cannot tear apart a family. Emily thinks I can though because technically Christopher and I should be a family more then he and Sherry should be because we have Rory," Lorelai replied. "But I cannot do that."

"I thought that you wanted him to be there," Luke said quietly, "I thought you wanted him to be a father to this child."

"I don't know what I want. I want someone to share this with, but I don't necessarily want to marry Christopher. He's with someone, I cannot screw that up. I cannot be known as the woman that made some man leave his pregnant girlfriend. I just can't," Lorelai said laying her head down on the counter.

Luke reached over and placed his hand on her back. He started rubbing small circles in an effort to calm her down, "You're not going to be that woman. You're not that person."

Lorelai lifted her head up, "Want to know why my mom guessed that Christopher and I weren't together even though I was pregnant?"

"Why?"

"She thought I was sleeping with someone else," Lorelai said. "She thought that I was with Christopher and I was sleeping around on him. She thought I got pregnant by some other man. Apparently my mom thinks I'm some kind of slut or something, I don't know. I flit from man to man in the words of Emily Gilmore."

"That's not who you are Lorelai. You're not that type of person," Luke said comfortingly. "Don't listen to your mother, she's not right. You're a great person."

"Well I know that I'm great Luke," Lorelai said smiling. She sighed, "You know you're pretty great too. I don't think I tell you that enough."

"Thank you," Luke replied.

Lorelai smiled again, "No problem. You are great, remember that."

"I will."

"Good, I should go. Get home to Rory. I have to apologize to her about earlier."

"What happened earlier?"

"Oh nothing, just some boy drama, teenager stuff," Lorelai replied as she walked towards the door, "Goodnight Luke."

"Goodnight Lorelai."

* * *

"Hey, you're home," Lorelai said as she walked into the house and into the living room.

Rory nodded, "Yup, I'm home."

"Oh, hey, I figured how to get the Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer out of our heads – to sing the Small World song over and over for the next forty-eight hours. Of course, how we get the Small World song out of our heads, I have not worked out yet. Okay, see, that was not how that whole scene between us was supposed to go," Lorelai sighed as she took her coat off and sat down on the couch.

"No?"

"No. I mean, yes, I was surprised and I do think the basic sentiment of 'make up your mind' was kind of called for."

Rory nodded again, "Absolutely called for."

"But I didn't mean to upset you and yell at you and make you feel bad, I'm really sorry, hon."

"I know, but you were right."

"Can I blame all of this, the fight on the baby making my hormones all wacky?" Lorelai asked.

"Just this once," Rory said, "You cannot use that as an excuse for everything," she mock scolded.

"Yes ma'am," Lorelai replied.

"So how was dinner?" Rory asked.

"So how was Dean?" Lorelai countered.

"So how was dinner?"

"So how was Dean?"

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Williams' sisters take center stage at Wimbledon once again."

"Dinner was bad," Lorelai confessed.

"Sorry."

"That's okay, I knew it would be," Lorelai replied, "Emily guessed that I was pregnant because I apparently gained weight. I mean baby bump was partially hidden but apparently in other places I also look fuller. Isn't against good manners to ask someone if they gained weight?"

"I thought it was," Rory said.

"I guess Emily Gilmore doesn't care about manners sometimes," Lorelai said, "Speaking of Dean, is there still a Dean?"

"Yeah, there's still a Dean," Rory replied.

"Really?"

"I don't know what I was doing. Maybe it's because I haven't dated a lot but this Jess thing was crazy. And I do love Dean and you were absolutely right – I was treating him like dirt and I wasn't appreciating what was right in front of me, but I'm going to now."

"Rory, I don't want you to stay with Dean because of me."

"I know."

Lorelai sighed, "Because I was upset earlier."

"I know."

"My hormones are all wacky and I had the pressure of tonight's dinner."

"I know," Rory replied.

"I didn't wanna upset you and I certainly don't want you to make an important decision off of…" Lorelai said.

Rory groaned, "Mom."

Lorelai continued, "Because it's too important…"

Rory interrupted, "Mom."

"And I just want you to be happy," Lorelai finished.

Rory interrupted again, "Mom! All I did was think about what you said, that's all. Then I analyzed the situation."

"And then you made a pro and con list."

"You're mocking me, but yes, I did. And after all of this, I came to the conclusion that I want to make things good with Dean, and he deserves my undivided attention," Rory replied.

"And you feel good about this?" Lorelai asked.

Rory nodded, "I feel really good about this."

"Okay, because if you decided you really did want to date Jess, I would help you…get vaccinated."

"Thank you, but I'm good."

Lorelai smiled, "All right, as long as you're good."

"I am good."

"Well, okay, good."

"What about you, are you good?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Not so goodish right not since dinner with your grandparents and I may not have someone here right now to be there for me and the baby. But I do have you and your baby sibling, so I'm going to be good."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Your existence is a huge help," Lorelai said. "Oh and once the baby gets here your existence will be an even bigger help when it comes to changing diapers," she added.

"I think you can handle diapers," Rory said, "I will help out with everything else though."

"You're such a good daughter, it's going to be a shame if this baby is a girl and then I have to actually choose which one is my favorite daughter," Lorelai teased.

"Just remember that I was here first."

"Yeah but this baby will have the whole new baby cuteness factor which is pretty hard to top."

"At least I sleep through the night."

Lorelai laughed, "Good point. Hey want to order chinese? We never actually got to dinner tonight."

"I'll go get the menus," Rory said getting up from the couch and walking towards the kitchen.

Lorelai ran her hand once again over her belly, "Now Rory is pretty great, nothing like your grandparents. You'll love her. You have the best big sister a baby could ask for."

* * *

**So the Rory dating situation will pretty much be the same as on the show, I might have a few more Rory/Jess moments just because I'm a Literati fan.**

**Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter. **

**Reviews are greatly appreciated and needed because I love to know what you guys think.**


	7. Chapter 7

One week had passed since Lorelai decided to tell the town and her parents about the pregnancy. She ignored her mother's phone calls not wanting to talk to her after the comments made at dinner. Once Friday night rolled around again, Lorelai made up an excuse that she wasn't feeling well to get out of dinner just sending Rory. The town was still abuzz with the news that Lorelai was pregnant. She tried to ignore all the talk that was flying around. It seemed that after giving it some thought that people remembered Lorelai was with Christopher at the wedding. Suddenly he was the father but everyone was still trying to find out Luke's part in the whole thing since he and Lorelai had been spending a lot more time together.

Late Saturday morning, Lorelai padded downstairs and joined Rory in the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down at the table, "So your big weekend before school starts back, anything that you want to do?"

Rory shrugged her shoulders, "Not really, just hang out around the house, watch movies, see Dean, go see Lane," she replied.

Lorelai smiled, "So you want to hang out with your dearest mommy today and help me decide where exactly the baby's stuff is going to go?"

"You don't have any stuff for the baby do you?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "Not yet because I need to decide exactly where everything is going to go. I know that baby's stuff is going to have to go in my room because that's the only place for him or her to go but I need to decide if I need to move anything in my room."

Rory nodded, "Okay I can help out today."

"Good and then once we know where things can go; we can actually start buying things. I can't wait until the last minute."

"When do you want to start?" Rory asked.

"I was thinking since it close to lunchtime we could go get lunch first then try and figure things out, so Luke's?" Lorelai asked.

"Luke's," Rory agreed.

After getting on their shoes, Lorelai and Rory headed out the door to Luke's. They decided to walk instead of drive. Walking into Luke's they grabbed a seat at an empty table. Jess headed over to them with coffee cups and the coffee pot. He poured their coffee before walking back to the counter.

Rory sipped at her coffee, "Is this decaf?"

Lorelai took a sip of hers and nodded, "Yep. Looks like you're getting the decaf treatment too when you're with me."

"So your pregnancy is affecting how I eat and drink too?"

Luke walked up hearing the last part of their conversation, "You both need to eat healthier, especially you," he said looking at Lorelai, "Now what you would you like?" he asked getting out his order pad.

"Cheeseburger, fries, and a coke," Lorelai replied.

"I'll have the same," Rory said, "But I want real coffee, not decaf."

"Cheeseburgers, side salad, and a coke," Luke repeated writing down the order.

Lorelai shook her head, "No, no salad. Fries, I want fries."

"Salad," Luke said once again before walking away from the table and back behind the counter.

Jess returned to the table a few minutes later and switched out Rory's decaf coffee for regular coffee. Lorelai stared at Rory in mock anger as Rory sipped on her regular coffee while Lorelai was still stuck with decaf.

"You know you can just make your own coffee at home," Rory said.

Lorelai pouted, "I know but Luke's is better and he won't let me have any. I like that he's watching out for me but I still want his coffee."

"He does seem to be watching out for you carefully. I better get fries and not a salad."

A few minutes later, Luke came walking back with their plates. He placed their plates down in front of them; both were given cheeseburgers with a small side salad. No fries were to be seen. Before either one could say a word, Luke walked off headed back towards the kitchen.

"He didn't bring us fries," Rory stated.

Lorelai laughed, "Ha! You didn't get any fries either; I'm not alone in this."

"I may not already like this sibling if he or she is affecting my eating habits too."

Lorelai shook her head, "Is the sibling rivalry already beginning and we're still months away from the due date?"

Rory shrugged her shoulders, "Hmm maybe."

Lorelai just smiled at her daughter as she started eating her lunch.

Truth be told, Rory still wasn't too sure how she felt about her mother's pregnancy. She was going to be there and support her no matter what. But the idea of having a sibling after being an only child for so long was freaking her out. She was going into her senior year at Chilton, she was going to graduate soon, and then go off to college. They would have at least 18 years separating them. Not to mention that this baby meant her Europe trip was cancelled. She tried to act like it wasn't a big deal because she didn't want to seem like a brat crying over the cancelled trip especially when her mother had a lot to deal with but the trip cancellation still really hurt.

Was it jealously that she felt that her mother was soon going to have another child? Jealously that she was no longer going to be the only child her mother had? Jealous that she knew her all her mother's time would go to the baby once he or she was born since babies needed a lot of attention? Rory wasn't exactly sure if it was jealously or if it was just not knowing how to deal with the situation. She felt like she couldn't truly express everything she was feeling without burdening her mother even more. At least her mother seemed a little happier about baby now. When her mother first told her, Rory knew that she was upset doing this again without anyone. But now she seemed more open to the idea. Maybe it was the fact that she had her daughter's support, Sookie's support, and Luke's support through everything. Somehow Rory felt that most of all at this time her mother needed Luke's support the most.

"Sweets?" Lorelai called after she finished her lunch. "Hello? Earth to Rory?"

Rory shook her head, breaking herself from her thoughts, "What? Did I miss something?"

Lorelai turned her head to the side, "You okay? You seemed out of it there for a minute. Luke came by offering a small slice of pie to take home since I ate my salad and he asked you if you wanted pie but you said nothing."

"Oh I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Nothing. Are we done here?" Rory asked, "Ready to head back home?"

"I'm done, are you done?"

Rory looked down at her half-eaten burger and barely touched salad, "Yeah. I guess I didn't really want a burger after all."

"Blasphemy," Lorelai replied, "What's on your mind kid?"

"Oh I was just thinking about the baby, you know possible names for a boy or a girl. And I was thinking about where exactly you could put all of the baby's stuff in your room," Rory lied.

Lorelai smiled, "There's my little planner, always thinking ahead."

Rory nodded, "Yeah, so home now?"

"Let's go."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Lorelai and Rory were both up in her bedroom. Rory was sitting on her mother's bed with her legs crossed while Lorelai stood in the middle of her room with her hands on her hips. Lorelai walked across the room and stood in one corner close to her bed.

"So I think this is where the crib should go. I mean it's the only place that the crib will fit anyways, so it should definitely go here," Lorelai said.

Rory nodded, "I agree. But what about all the other stuff a baby needs?"

"Well last night while you were at dinner, I used your laptop and looked up different cribs. I found one with a changing table attached so that gives me some storage space. I think I can also fit a small dresser in here next to the crib. It will be crowded but that's my only option really," Lorelai replied.

"Why did you use my laptop, you have your own."

"Yeah but mine was all the way upstairs and I don't feel like going up the stairs. Your laptop was just right there in your room so it was much easier access."

"If I look at my search history, I'm not going to discover that you searched something dirty am I?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "No, I know how to delete searches."

"Gross Mom," Rory groaned.

"I was kidding, jeez. All I looked up was cribs and strollers. Oh and I looked at car-seats. I forgot exactly how much babies cost. They need a lot of things," Lorelai walked over to the bed and sat down next to Rory, "I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"I have my next appointment soon. At this appointment, they will be able to tell if I'm having a boy or a girl. I still need to make the appointment actually, so I was thinking that if you wanted to go with me then I could make the appointment a time after you get out of school. You don't have to go if you don't want too though."

"I'll go with you."

Lorelai grinned and hugged her daughter, "Good because I was thinking that after we could go and maybe buy a few little things for baby, clothes or something."

"Okay, just let me know so I can make sure there's no Franklin meeting or anything like that," Rory replied.

Lorelai nodded, "Okay. I think we're done here, we sort of figured out where everything will go. It will help when I actually have the furniture."

Rory uncrossed her legs and stood up from the bed, "I'm going to head over to Lane's for a little while, unless you need me here."

Lorelai shook her head, "Go on ahead. I'm fine here."

"Be home later," Rory said as she exited her mother's room.

Lorelai laid back on the bed and lifted up her shirt exposing her bump. She had taken to making sure to moisturize her baby bump morning and night in an attempt to prevent stretch marks. She knew it was a fruitless attempt and stretch marks were going to happen but she still thought just maybe that she could prevent them. She had a few barely noticeable stretch marks from Rory that she thought were standing out even more now but maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on hers. After examining her belly for any new stretch marks, Lorelai pulled her shirt back down and rubbed a hand lazily over her bump.

Lorelai was lying there quietly when her stomach began grumbling. She laughed, "Jeez I thought I ate a lot before. Now you want more?" Lorelai sat up on the bed, "I wonder if I call Luke if he will bring me more pie," she said standing up and walking out of her room.

She kept one hand on her bump as she walked down the stairs, "He does want to watch out for me so maybe if I tell him that you're the one that really wants the pie if he will bring it. You cannot deny the baby."

Lorelai was making her way towards the kitchen when the doorbell rang. The doorbell was quickly followed by a knocking on the door. Whoever was at the door seemed to be in a rush. Lorelai exited the kitchen and made her way towards the door. She opened the door to find Christopher standing on the other side.

"Christopher," Lorelai gasped softly. She watched as his eyes went down to her baby bump and back up to her face. Her hand dropped away from her baby bump. She knew she was caught now. "What are you doing here?" she asked coldly.

"We need to talk," Christopher stated sternly.

Lorelai knew this moment was coming sooner or later. She preferred later to have time to prepare what she wanted to say but he was here, it was now or never. She stepped aside allowing him in the door. Once he was inside, Lorelai shut the door and followed Christopher into the living room.

"Emily called me," Christopher said as soon as Lorelai entered the living room, "Emily called me and congratulated me on being a father again. I thought she meant Sherry but then she mentions that you were pregnant. I see that she was right."

"Emily called you?" Lorelai asked harshly.

"Yes."

"My mother called you?"

"Yes."

Lorelai was furious, "My mother Emily Gilmore called you and told you about this?"

"Yes Lor, your mother Emily Gilmore called me. She called me and told me," Christopher answered.

"I can't believe her," Lorelai groaned, "She was not supposed to do that. This doesn't concern her, not right now."

"Well who else was going to tell me?" Christopher asked, "Obviously not you."

"I was…." Lorelai said completely unsure if that was the truth.

"Oh yeah like I believe that."

"Hey, I've never lied to you. There's no reason to doubt my word," she shouted back.

"Really? Forty-five unreturned phone calls isn't a reason?"

Lorelai shook her head, "No, it isn't."

"You trying to keep this from me is wrong. Having to hear about this from your mother is wrong."

"Everything about this is wrong," Lorelai said throwing her hands up in the air, "None of this was planned. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant, we were supposed to finally be together, to finally work things out and be family, and I definitely was not supposed to get pregnant. So yeah this is wrong," she fought back tears. Damn hormones.

Christopher paced around the room, hands on hips. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, she sniffled, "I don't know," she admitted quietly.

"I mean Sherry and I are engaged…"

"You're engaged?" Lorelai asked timidly. She knew this coming or it was going to happen. Still some part of her hoped it would never happen. But that wasn't fair to anyone.

"Yeah, I figured with the baby coming and everything but now you're having a baby…."

Lorelai shook her head, "Don't. "

"Don't what?"

He couldn't leave Sherry, even if she wanted him too. She couldn't be the person taking him away from a baby and now an engagement. It wasn't fair. She wanted him there, she wanted someone there. She wanted what Sherry was going to get but that wasn't happening not right now. Not with Christopher.

Lorelai sighed, "Just don't. This," she said gesturing between them pointing to herself first and then Christopher, "Us, we're never going to work out. We're stupid to believe that, we can't work out."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying, we will never be a couple. You need to leave; you need to go home to Sherry. You just have to get out of my house."

"Lorelai, I can't leave right now. We need to discuss this baby, our baby."

"What? Are you going to break the news to Sherry too that I'm pregnant? That you're having a child with her and having another child with me? Are you willing to say that to her?"

Christopher stammered, "I don't…I don't…"

Lorelai sniffled blinking back tears, "Exactly, so just leave."

"Lorelai."

"Now."

"I want to be there for you, I want to be a part of this kid's life. I don't want to miss out like I did with Rory."

"You can't be there for me and for her. I'm not going to be a secret, this child is not going to be a secret that you just sneak away to see when you get time away from your fiancé. I can't have that. I'm not going to have that," Lorelai replied.

"You can't keep me out of my kid's life," Christopher yelled.

"What do you want me to do Christopher? You can't split your time between both of us without telling Sherry. She needs you a whole hell of a lot more than I do," Lorelai yelled back, "I've done this before and I can do it again," she emphasized.

"Are you refusing my help?"

"Tell me exactly how you plan to be here for my baby; tell me how you're going to be there for Sherry and be there for me. Tell me your plan."

"I can….I don't know Lor, this is all new," Christopher replied.

"Honey, it's all new to me too," Lorelai said, "Just go home. Be with Sherry. Raise your baby. Be there for Rory when she needs you. As for me and this baby, I don't know. All I know right now is that you need to leave."

"Lorelai…"

"Leave," Lorelai repeated raising her voice. "Could you please just leave?"

"I want to talk. I want to figure out what to do."

Outside Rory was walking into the yard. She had planned to go over to Lane's but for some reason, Lane was not at home. Since Dean was working today, she decided she would just head back home. Maybe she could have a movie marathon with her mother. She stared as she spotted her dad's car in front of their house. The closer she got to the house, the more shouting she could hear. She opened the door and walked into the living room, the adults were oblivious to her entering the house.

"There's nothing to figure out right now! I need you to leave. Standing here talking to you hurts, it really hurts," Lorelai shouted now with tears on her cheeks, "And I can't take it right now. It's not good for me or for the baby. You have to go."

Rory decided to speak up, "Mom wants you to leave, you need to leave Dad," she said walking over to her mom.

Lorelai turned to the side to see Rory standing there. Christopher glanced between the mother and daughter; they both had the same look on their face telling him that he needed to leave. Christopher walked past them and headed towards the door.

"We still need to talk," Christopher said.

Lorelai just continued staring as Christopher walked out of the house. The door slammed behind him. She walked over to the window and drew back the curtain watching his car back out of the driveway. Lorelai wiped at her eyes and headed back upstairs, Rory watched as her mother walked upstairs before quickly following behind her.

* * *

The night and the next day passed by quietly, Lorelai made a late night stop by the diner on Sunday informing Luke of everything that happened when Christopher showed up. Babette had apparently seen Christopher and her house and the town discussed exactly what he was doing there. She learned all this on a morning visit to the diner. She wanted Luke to know the truth on why he stopped by before any rumors made their way to him.

Lorelai was now en-route to Chilton. Rory was now vice-president while Paris was president and they were both set to give speeches this afternoon. On the drive, Lorelai was trying to prepare to face her mother. Dinner had been avoided but today was not something that could be avoided. She was walking into Chilton with the knowledge that her mother apparently thought she cheated on Christopher and the fact that her mother had invaded her personal business and called Christopher to tell him about the pregnancy.

Lorelai parked her car and looked down at the time displayed. Crap. She was late. She was determined not to be late but that wasn't working. She quickly shut off her car and rushed inside the halls of Chilton. As soon as she found Rory, she knew the rushing was all for nothing. She wasn't late; Rory told her the wrong time so she wouldn't be late. Rory seated her in the auditorium and now she was waiting on her mother to show up. She did not want to sit next to Emily but knew she had to.

Lorelai stayed silent during the speeches keeping her attention focused on the students. She could feel her mother's stare boring holes into her side. She was sure by that the time this speech was over that she was going to look like a piece of swiss cheese. Rory's speech was fantastic. Lorelai was proud of hers. Paris' speech was definitely Paris, intense and very-focused. After the speech, Lorelai and Emily were now standing waiting for Rory.

"Is Rory coming out?" Emily asked.

"That's what she said," Lorelai replied keeping her tone neutral, "It was a nice ceremony."

"Yes it was," Emily replied. She waited for Lorelai to say something else, make some silly comment but she didn't. Lorelai stayed standing there with her arms crossed staring straight ahead. "You seem to be feeling better."

"I may still be sick, we'll find out Friday," Lorelai replied.

"Are you threatening to miss another dinner, we had a deal."

"Did you call Christopher and tell him about the pregnancy?" Lorelai asked turning to face her mother.

"He deserved to know, he's not happy with that woman," Emily replied, "You weren't going to tell him. Someone had to tell him that he was going to be a father."

"Don't you understand that this pregnancy is my business not yours? If anyone should have told him, it was going to be me, not you. He came to talk to me, we talked. He's engaged to Sherry, he's not leaving her. I told him that he couldn't. I told him to leave and go home to her."

Emily sighed, "Well see if you would have told him to stay then he would have. You know that. He would have stayed and you could raise this baby together."

"Oh my god, you are delusional. I couldn't have done that. I can't be the one wrecking a relationship because it would benefit me. I'm not that person no matter how much you would like to think that I am."

"Christopher deserves to be in this kids' life. You have to work for a family life if that's what you want."

Lorelai lowered her voice, anger flared up in her eyes as she started to speak, "If you keep pushing me like this, I swear this kid will never know you. You will never get to meet my child. So I would stop if I were you." After Emily's actions lately, she was seriously considering not allowing Emily anywhere near her baby. She knew it was wrong but right now that did not matter.

"You can't do that," Emily gasped.

"Invade my personal business again, contact Christopher again and you and I will be done so fast," Lorelai replied turning away from her mother.

When Rory came back out with her stuff, Lorelai stepped back as Rory said goodbye to her grandmother, Lorelai didn't say anything to Emily. She was serious about what she said earlier, if Emily pulled any more tricks against her this kid would not meet her. It wouldn't be too hard. At this point, Lorelai wasn't exactly sure when she would go back to Friday night dinner. Pregnancy was an excuse; pregnancy could conveniently make her feel bad for at least a few Friday night dinners.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review please!**


	8. Chapter 8

The next week passed by quickly. Rory received her application to Harvard and after some thinking; she began freaking out about it. However after a lunch with a Harvard alumnus, her fears were alleviated. Applying did not seem so scary anymore. She was assured that she was a shoo-in for Harvard. Lorelai missed yet another Friday night dinner. She was not ready to talk to Emily after finding out that she was the one who called Christopher to tell him about the baby. Phone calls from Emily were also avoided.

"Hey Luke, guess what today is?" Lorelai asked sitting on her stool sipping on her cup of hot chocolate, since Luke was withholding the coffee now.

"Friday?" Luke replied.

"Nooo…" Lorelai trailed off.

Luke looked over the counter at her, "It's not Friday, what day is it?"

Lorelai sighed, "It is Friday but do you remember what I told you was happening on this day? At this time, well at this time as soon as I leave here and go pick Rory up from school?"

"I don't remember."

"Jeez, I thought as my best friend you would remember. Today is my doctor's appointment. My doctor's appointment to find out whether there will be a little baby boy or a little baby girl to add to the crazy residents in Stars Hollow."

Luke nodded his head thoughtfully, "Oh yeah I remember you telling me that."

Lorelai shook her head, "Yeah you remember after I told you. Hey can I get some more ho-cho for the road?" she asked.

"As long as you don't use that ridiculous name for it anymore, it's hot chocolate," Luke replied as he began to fix her another cup.

"To-go cup," Lorelai reminded him, "I'm almost already running late here."

"I'm hurrying."

"Are we still on for movie night tonight?" Lorelai asked as Luke handed her the to-go cup of hot chocolate.

"Don't you have dinner with your parents on Fridays?"

"After the whole Emily/Christopher debacle, I haven't been back to dinner. She was so rude, I just don't want to go over there and cause a fight, it's not good for the baby. And you want the baby and me to be okay, right?" Lorelai asked, "So no dinners, not right now."

"You should really talk to them," Luke replied.

"I have to go," Lorelai said changing the subject, "Movie night. Be there at 7, bring food," she said getting up off her stool and walking out the door giving Luke no time to respond.

* * *

Lorelai parked out in front of Chilton waiting for Rory to come out, today was her appointment to figure out the baby's gender. Rory agreed to go with her so she would not be alone. She heard the school bell ring and soon students began filing out of the school. Lorelai watched the students for a few minutes before she spotted Rory walking towards the jeep. She smiled as the passenger door opened and Rory threw her stuff into the back seat.

"Hey, be careful with that. Soon you're not going to be able to just throw things into the backseat, there will be a baby back there," Lorelai reminded her.

Rory smiled, "Hello to you too."

"I'm just saying," Lorelai replied. She turned the Jeep back on and pulled out of the Chilton parking lot. As she drove in the direction of the doctor's office, she talked to Rory. "So which would you prefer a baby brother or a baby sister?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Rory replied.

"I want to say that too because it doesn't matter to me, but I don't know anything about boys. I don't know how to raise a boy. I've only ever raised you and you're not a boy," Lorelai said.

Rory laughed, "Thanks for pointing that out, I was getting a little confused about which bathroom I should use."

"That's what I'm here for."

"You do know that if you have another girl then you can no longer say that I am your favorite daughter because it wouldn't be fair," Rory replied. "If you have two daughters then you can't have a favorite."

"Well in that case, I'll just tell one of you while the other is not around, you'll never know," Lorelai replied.

The doctor's office was only a short drive from Chilton so they arrived in just a few minutes. Lorelai pulled into the parking lot and shut off the jeep. She grabbed her purse while Rory grabbed a book from her backpack. Once they had gathered their things, they climbed out of the car and headed inside the doctor's office. While Lorelai signed herself in, Rory found two empty chairs in the waiting room. Lorelai made her way over to Rory and sat down next to her.

Lorelai pointed out the heavily pregnant woman in the room, "Get used to that sight, that's going to be me soon."

"I don't think you'll get that big," Rory replied.

"I looked that way with you. Big, fat ankles, doors were widened just for me…"

Rory interrupted, "And I'm reminded of it daily."

"That's the privilege of a mother," Lorelai replied.

Lorelai began flipping through a magazine while Rory read her book. After a 30-minute wait, Lorelai was called back and set up in an examination room. She laid back on the table while Rory stood beside her. Lorelai noticed Rory fidgeting around.

"Are you okay sweets?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? You will not stand still," Lorelai said, "All they're doing today is the ultrasound, you're not going to see anything, just my belly. Nothing gross, so don't worry okay? If you don't want to be here, you can wait in the waiting room."

"I'm fine Mom, I'm here for you," Rory replied.

Lorelai sighed, "Thank you."

Dr. Callaway entered the room, "Good afternoon Lorelai. And who did you bring with you today?"

Lorelai reached out and touched Rory's arm, "Oh this is my daughter I was telling you about. This is Rory. Rory this is Dr. Callaway."

The two greeted one another while Dr. Callaway worked on getting things set up.

"Rory is graduating from Chilton this year," Lorelai commented.

"Chilton? That's a great school," Dr. Callaway replied, "Lift up your shirt please."

Lorelai obeyed and lifted up her shirt. Dr. Callaway squirted a small amount of the gel onto the exposed skin. She grabbed the ultrasound wand and placed it against Lorelai's skin moving it around.

A black-and-white image appeared as Dr. Callaway began to speak, "How have you been feeling lately?"

"Pretty good, morning sickness is over now. I'm just hungry all the time, which isn't too different from before I was pregnant. Other than that, everything is pretty much fine," Lorelai replied.

Dr. Callaway smiled, "That's good. Everything is looking good with baby here. Did you want to find out the gender today?"

Lorelai nodded, "Yes we would."

Dr. Callaway moved the wand around and stopped suddenly. She pointed towards the screen, "Congratulations, you're having a little girl."

Rory smiled, "Another Gilmore girl."

Lorelai grinned and turned her head towards Rory, "Yeah another Gilmore girl that we have to train in all things Gilmore."

"We're experts it will be no problem," Rory replied with a genuine smile.

"Well I like said before, everything looks good with your little girl here. She's growing like she's supposed to, everything is right on track," Dr. Callaway commented.

Dr. Callaway handed Lorelai a tissue to wipe the remaining gel off her belly. Lorelai wiped the gel away as Dr. Callaway handed the ultrasound pictures over to Rory. After a quick check-up to make sure everything else was okay, Dr. Callaway congratulated Lorelai once again and left the room.

* * *

After returning home from the doctor's appointment and just a little bit of shopping to buy a few items for the baby, Rory got ready to go to Friday Night dinner alone while Lorelai got ready for movie night with Luke. Rory tried to encourage her mother to go to dinner, Lorelai promised she would go soon but not soon as in tonight.

Lorelai was sitting on the couch when there was a knock at the door, "Come in!" she yelled.

"You're not even going to come to the door to check who is at the door?" Luke asked as he made his way into the house.

"I knew it was you Luke," Lorelai replied. "Who else would it be?"

"Still you should at least come to the door, not just invite anyone in."

"Did you bring food?" Lorelai asked.

Luke walked into the living room and sat down two bags of food on the coffee table, "There's a salad in there for you, cheeseburger, fries, and two slices of apple pie."

Lorelai smiled and patted the spot on the couch next to her, "Good now you may sit. So," she said reaching over to the table and grabbing a bag of food, "you remember all the movie night rules, right?"

"I remember," Luke replied.

"Good," Lorelai said. "But tonight since we're watching a guilty pleasure movie, _Hardbodies, _movie night rules don't apply too much. Ooh but before we begin, I have one question for you."

"What?"

Lorelai smiled brightly, "Do you think you can handle another Gilmore girl in your life?"

"What?" Luke asked again.

"My doctor's appointment Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed throwing her hands up in the air. "What did I tell you was going to happen today?" She asked but continued on before Luke had a chance to answer, "I told you that I was going to find out the gender of my baby. So what I'm saying is, is that I'm having another girl. My question remains, do you think you could handle another Gilmore girl in your life?"

Luke gave her the hint of a smile, "I'm sure I can."

"You sure? I know that you can handle me and Rory but can you handle another one?" Lorelai asked, "I mean Rory and I can be a handful but adding a baby to the mix? That can be crazy."

Luke smiled, for real this time, "I can handle it."

Lorelai smiled, "Great, okay now movie time."

Lorelai picked up the remote control and turned the movie on. She and Luke began eating the food they brought while the movie played. Small talk was made during the movie, Lorelai pointing out certain things about the movie. After eating, Lorelai scrunched around on the couch trying to get comfortable. She found she was most comfortable with her back pressed up against Luke and her legs stretched out across the couch. One hand remained on her belly as they watched the movie.

Towards the end of the movie, Lorelai became distracted by her thoughts. Sure Luke said he could handle another Gilmore girl in his life but one conversation they had before kept re-playing in her head. The conversation they first had when Jess first moved to town; the rant that Luke went on about jam-hands and not liking kids because he didn't have the patience for them. She had thought about that once before but pushed it to the side because Luke said he was there for her but now she couldn't help but think that once the baby was actually here that Luke wouldn't be there for her because he didn't like kids. The thought of not having her best friend anymore because she would have a baby was terrifying and upsetting.

"Hey Luke," Lorelai called softly.

"Yeah?" Luke replied.

"Can I ask you something?"

"If I say no, are you going to ask anyway?"

Lorelai giggled, "When have you saying no stopped me before?"

"My point exactly, what is it Lorelai?"

Lorelai pushed herself off of Luke and turned to face him. Both hands went to her belly as she spoke, "Do you remember what you told me when you first found out that Jess was coming to live with you?"

"I'm not really sure," Luke replied trying to remember exactly what he said to Lorelai that day.

Lorelai sighed preparing to ask him something that had been on her mind a lot recently, "When you said that Jess was coming to live with you, you went on this rant about kids. About how they were always sticky and you called them jam hands."

"Jam hands," Luke repeated, "I remember a little about that."

"You said that you had no patience for jam hands. You said that you didn't even like kids. I get that whole 'kids are always sticky thing' but do you really not like kids?" Lorelai asked her voice fading away to a whisper. She looked down at her hands on her belly, "Do you have no patience for them?"

She looked up at Luke trying to hide the fear that she felt if he confirmed that he didn't like kids, trying to hide the insecurity she was feeling from having to ask that question. He was stuck; he didn't know what to say. He was confused as to why she was asking this question now.

Lorelai spoke up again, "You're my best friend Luke and I don't know what I would do if you really didn't like kids. I feel like if you don't like kids then I can't bring her around you and I don't want that Luke. I want you to know her. I want her to know you. Rory loves you and you've been one of the best influences in her life and I want that for this kid too. I need that for her."

"Lorelai…"

Lorelai wiped at a stray tear that rolled down her cheek, "Just don't lie to me Luke. If you don't like kids just tell me. It's okay if you don't."

Luke reached out and took one of Lorelai's hands in his, "I know what I said before. I know I've said things about not liking kids before but I never really meant it. I can be a kid person for you."

Lorelai looked down at Luke's hand holding hers, ""I don't want you to force yourself to like my kid Luke. I don't want you to feel like you have to be a part of her life just because we're friends."

"That's not how I feel Lorelai," Luke said softly. "I want to be a part of her life. She's your kid; she's bound to be amazing."

Lorelai smiled softly, "You mean that?"

"Of course I do." Luke shrugged his shoulders, "I can be a baby person. I can like babies."

Lorelai smiled again imagining Luke with a baby in his arms. His strong arms cradling a tiny baby girl wrapped up in a pink blanket. For just a moment, she imagined herself standing beside Luke as he held her little girl, they looked like a little family like in her dream she had, "You know you would look good with a baby. Girls swoon over guys holding babies. But you're not allowed to use my baby to pick up girls."

Luke chuckled, "Like I would do that."

Lorelai laughed, "Hey you never know," she sighed, "Thank you Luke for everything; it's just really hard without Christopher, I mean even though I told him to leave and basically not be there for me, it's really hard but you've been there for me."

"Have you talked to him recently?" Luke asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "Not since the day he showed up at my house. I just can't do it, I can't talk to him. It's too hard."

"I know," Luke replied. "Looks like the movie's over."

Lorelai looked back at the screen where the credits were now rolling, "Yeah."

"I have early deliveries tomorrow, I should probably go," Luke said standing up.

"Okay," Lorelai said standing up and following Luke to the door. She smiled as they stood in front of the door, "You know I really like our movie nights."

Luke smiled, "I do too."

Lorelai leaned up and kissed Luke on the cheek, "See you tomorrow."

Luke reached up and touched the spot on his cheek that Lorelai had kissed, "Yeah see you tomorrow," he replied before turning and walking out the door.

After watching Luke leave and shutting the door, Lorelai leaned back against it. She and Luke were never really touchy-feely friends but ever since she found out she was pregnant, they hugged a lot more and she just kissed his cheek. It wasn't forced, it didn't feel at all weird, it just felt natural. He also felt so warm and strong when they hugged. But nope, nothing could happen. She was pregnant; dating was definitely off the table. Not that she should even be thinking that, Luke was her friend. But sometimes, like earlier, it was easy to imagine Luke being the one to help her raise this baby; the one to be there for her and for her new addition. She sighed and headed upstairs, she could admit to herself that maybe she had feelings for Luke. But what did those feelings matter now anyways?

* * *

The next morning, Rory walked out of her room to find Lorelai sitting cross-legged on the couch with a book in her hands. She wore her glasses as she studied the book.

"I thought you were going to the Inn this morning," Rory said.

Lorelai looked away from her book and over towards Rory, "I'm going later, I gave myself the morning off."

Rory nodded, "Okay, I was just going to head over to Lane's."

Lorelai smiled, "Sounds fun sweets," she said. Her hand moved to her belly as she felt the baby moving, "Ooh."

Rory walked over to the couch, "Are you okay, something wrong?"

Lorelai shook her head and smiled again, "No, your baby sister is just moving around in here. Here feel," she said reaching out and grabbing Rory's hand. She placed it right where her hand just was, "This is one of the first times I felt her move when you were actually around."

Rory smiled, "That's the baby?"

Lorelai nodded, "That's your sister. Ooh okay, someone's active right now. When I was pregnant with you, you always liked to move around at nights. You would wake me up sometimes, you kicked so hard. So rebellious in the womb."

Rory removed her hand from her mother's belly, "I had to be rebellious at some point."

"Good thing you got it all out before you were born," Lorelai replied.

Rory nodded, "So I'm going to Lane's, I'll be back later."

"Have fun!" Lorelai called after Rory.

Rory exited her house and made her way out of the yard. She lied. She just lied to her mother; she wasn't going to Lane's. Instead she was heading over to Sookie's. A few days ago, Sookie called Rory with the idea of throwing Lorelai a baby shower. Rory had a similar idea and they both wanted it to be a surprise, so secret meetings would have to take place. Today would be their first meeting in operation surprise baby shower.

After a short walk, Rory arrived at Sookie's house. She knocked on the door and waited for Sookie to answer, a shout from inside told Rory that she could come in.

"Hey hon," Sookie said as Rory walked in, "Let's go into the kitchen."

Rory followed Sookie into the kitchen where there were notebooks full of different cut-outs from magazines. Sookie sat down at the table and motioned for Rory to join her.

"Okay I've never planned a baby shower or attended one, so we have cut-outs form magazines to help. Also I left out a lot of things because I know your mother and some of the games they suggested were insane and she would not like them," Sookie replied. "I was going to go shopping for decorations but I realized that maybe you would want to do that with me or at least have some say in what I buy so I waited for you."

Rory smiled, "Okay Sookie slow down. One thing at a time, where are we going to hold this?"

"Oh yeah, I was thinking the Inn at first but then your mom would want to know why I booked the space and then I would probably accidentally tell her about the shower. So now I'm thinking that we can have it at Ms. Patty's dance studio, everything else is held there," Sookie replied.

Rory nodded, "I can ask her if you want. Ohh wait did mom call you yesterday after the appointment?"

"No but she called me this morning to tell me that she was having a girl, I almost spilled that you were coming over today." Sookie beamed, "I can't believe she's having another girl! I read somewhere that green is the new pink but that's crazy. She's having a girl, things will be pink."

"Pink and Hello Kitty," Rory said, "she likes Hello Kitty."

"Oh yes, can't forget that."

The morning continued on with plans for the baby shower quickly coming together. When deciding who all to invite instead of going the traditional route, Sookie and Rory decided to invite everyone; they knew Kirk would get upset if he wasn't invited, Michel would probably complain if he wasn't invited since he wanted to do everything Sookie and Lorelai did, and that Lorelai would force Luke to come to the baby shower as she did with everything else. The baby shower would be one big town event, one big secret town event. A date was set, food was planned, and the rest of the planning was set to happen later when both Rory and Sookie had time to go shopping for decorations.

* * *

**As always please leave a review, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**I have plans for Emily and Richard that will be set up in the next chapter.**

**Also since now you know the gender, suggestions are open for names.**


	9. Chapter 9

"Hello Lorelai," Richard said as he approached the front desk of the Inn.

Lorelai looked away from the computer and towards her father, "Dad? What are you doing here?"

Richard sighed, "I came here to talk to you. Perhaps there's somewhere we could go to talk?"

Lorelai nodded, "Um sure. We can go to my office. Michel, take over here for me please."

"I always do," Michel replied.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at Michel before gesturing for her father to follow her to her office. She had not spoken to her father since the night she told him she was pregnant. Lorelai opened the door to her office and led her father inside.

Lorelai leaned back against her desk, "What did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to come by and check on you. You missed three dinners, all claiming that you were sick. I wanted to make sure you and the baby were okay," Richard replied.

"I'm fine Dad," Lorelai replied, "The baby is fine too," she said running a hand over her ever expanding baby bump. "Doctor says were both doing just great."

Richard huffed, "Well now that I know that you are fine, I want to know why you think you can tell your mother that you're going to cut her out of this child's life," he replied angrily. "Do you have any idea how she has felt these past few weeks when you haven't been to dinner?"

"From what I hear from Rory, she's been just fine. Same old, same old Emily," Lorelai replied.

Richard shook his head, "That's the act she puts on for Rory. When she came home from Chilton that day you told her that she was no longer allowed in this child's life, she was upset. More upset than I have seen her recently."

Lorelai sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment, "I didn't tell her that she couldn't be in this child's life."

"That's what she told me. She came home from Chilton going on and on about how you were going to keep her out of her grandchild's life just like you did with Rory. She is upset that she's never going to get to know this grandchild. She's afraid that you're going to keep her from everything just like you did with Rory," Richard continued.

While Richard ranted, Lorelai stayed quiet. She was trying to keep her temper under control considering that she was pregnant and getting too worked up was not good for the baby. She couldn't believe the words she was hearing. Sure, she told her mom that if she pushed her anymore that she couldn't be in this kid's life but that was more of a threat. It seemed Emily conveniently left out the part, the reason, for which Lorelai told Emily that she wouldn't be allowed in this child's life if she continued on.

"You're just being selfish. You took Rory away from us and now you're trying to take our new grandchild away from us. You have no idea how bad you have hurt your mother. She doesn't leave the house, she's so worried about never seeing you again or meeting your baby," Richard said.

Lorelai put her hand up to stop his rant, "I'm selfish?" she asked pushing herself away from her desk. "I didn't tell her that she could not be in this child's life. I simply told her that if she had the nerve to invade my privacy again, to do something that she knew was wrong again, that I would keep this kid away from her. It's her move whether or not she gets to be a part of this child's life. Do you even know why I threatened her like that?"

Richard shook his head, "Well no." He asked Emily why Lorelai threatened her like that but Emily never gave an answer. She just said it was the Lorelai thing to do, that she was doing the exact same thing she did with Rory.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Of course not. She decided that it was her business to contact Christopher and inform him of the pregnancy. Now see, that way I see it, I'm the one pregnant not her. I'm the one having Christopher's baby, not her. So if anyone were to tell him, it should have been me. I should not have been confronted at my house by Christopher wanting to know about the pregnancy but because of Emily I was. I was not ready to face him but I had to because of her."

"Well he should have known," Richard argued.

"I would have told him if I had the chance but I didn't. I was trying to wrap my mind around everything before I could confront him," Lorelai replied. She took a deep breath then released it, "You want to know why I haven't been at dinners? I haven't been sick, I've been fine. But you know it's hard to face your mother when she thinks that I cheated in a relationship so the baby is not the guy's I was with. Did you even hear that comment she made? And then she wants to go behind my back and just inform Christopher of everything without my permission? That's why I haven't been at dinner. She keeps sticking her nose where it does not belong."

"She was wrong in making that comment," Richard replied. "I heard it at the time but I didn't say anything and I should have. I'm truly sorry. What your mother did was wrong; she had no business contacting him. She probably just believed that you were not going to tell him. I didn't even know that she contacted him, nothing was said."

"Because she never believes me," Lorelai replied softly, "She never has."

"Lorelai..." Richard started.

Lorelai interrupted, "That night I had to tell you that I was pregnant again and that I wasn't with the father, god it was like I was sixteen again. I felt ashamed, I knew how you two were going to react and I was dreading it. I just, for once in my life, wanted you two to be supportive. To maybe see things from my side, to see that I was just as surprised by this situation as you were, to see that I was scared but you didn't. Both of you were too concerned with everything else, with yourselves, to even consider how I felt about this."

Richard watched his daughter as she ranted. He noticed the unshed tears brimming at the corners of her eyes. She looked heartbroken. She was right, they should have been supportive. It's not like she got herself into this situation. He knew his daughter well and by that he knew that Lorelai was not going to be with Christopher because she didn't honestly want to be with him.

Richard stepped closer to Lorelai, "I'm sorry Lorelai. I should have listened to you. You're right we should have taken into account how you were feeling. I'm here for you," he said sincerely.

"Thank you Dad," Lorelai said looking up at her father.

"I'll talk with your mother, try and make her see your side of things," Richard replied.

Lorelai sniffled, "Good luck with that."

"Lorelai…I mean it."

"Thank you Dad."

Richard nodded, "I will talk with her. I should go let you get back to work," he said as he turned to leave. Halfway out the door, Richard turned back around, "I do want you to come back to dinner, it would mean a lot to your mother."

"I'll think about it," Lorelai replied.

Richard smiled, "Good enough."

After Richard exited the office, Lorelai sat down on the small couch she kept in there. Maybe it was time to go back to dinner. Maybe. Or maybe Emily should be the first one to make a move. She was the one that decided to call Christopher. She knew it was wrong to already try and keep this baby from Emily and the anger she experienced over her mother telling Christopher was slowly dissipating.

* * *

Thursday afternoon, Lorelai sat at her kitchen table going over paperwork for the Inn. She was trying to figure out a plan for the Inn once she would go on maternity leave. Sure she still had a little while until her due date but this was not something she could do at the last minute. She needed to have a plan in case her baby girl decided to make an early entrance into the world. Although, Lorelai thought, being related to her it was a better chance of the baby coming late. She was trying to figure out just how much power she should give Michel, without him abusing it, when the doorbell rang.

Lorelai pushed herself up from the kitchen chair and headed towards the door. She opened the door to reveal Emily Gilmore standing on the other side.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked.

"I came to talk," Emily stated, her voice solid, free of any emotion.

_Dad must have talked to her_, Lorelai thought. She stepped aside and invited Emily in. They headed towards the kitchen where Lorelai gathered up her paperwork and put it away to go over later. Once Lorelai walked back into the kitchen, she found Emily sitting down at the table.

"You weren't working were you?"

"I was just trying to get things organized ahead of time for when I have to go on maternity leave," Lorelai answered, "Can I get you anything?"

Emily shook her head, "No, I'm good. I just wanted to talk."

Lorelai nodded and joined her mother at the table, "About what?" she asked even though she had a pretty good idea of why Emily was here in her house wanting to talk.

Emily took a deep breath before speaking. Apologizing was always hard for her. She sighed, "I wanted to apologize."

"Hell has officially frozen over ladies and gentlemen," Lorelai announced to a nearly empty kitchen.

"Lorelai!" Emily scolded.

Lorelai smiled sheepishly, "Sorry."

"As I was saying, I wanted to apologize," Emily continued. "The other day, after your father came to talk to you, he came home and we had a fight. He wasn't happy that I contacted Christopher and informed him that you were pregnant. He told me that I shouldn't have done that. He told me to stay out of it but I didn't listen. We also fought about how they night you told us that we should have both been supportive. I'm sorry that we were not supportive."

As Emily talked, Lorelai listened intently studying her mother's face to see if Emily really was telling the truth about the fact that she was sorry. She knew Emily would say things to just get whatever she wanted. She looked sincere, well at least more sincere than Lorelai had ever seen her. She really seemed to mean absolutely every word she was saying.

"You father told me that the only chance I had at getting you to come back to dinner would be apologizing to you. So I'm sorry that we were not supportive and I'm sorry for the comments I made at dinner, your father pointed out I should have never said the things I did," Emily said.

"And?" Lorelai asked crossing her arms over her baby bump.

"And what?" Emily asked.

"You know what I'm talking about."

Emily sighed, "And I'm sorry for calling Christopher," she said. She added quickly, "But he deserved to know."

"I needed to tell him, not you," Lorelai replied. She rolled her eyes, "You know it makes it hard to believe your apology when you're still defending your actions even though they were wrong."

"He's the father, he needed to know."

"I know that and believe me I would have told him," Lorelai stalled for a moment, trying to think, "I just needed time to think. I needed time to process the whole situation before I could tell him. I wanted to prepare myself, to think about what I was asking from him before I would tell him. I didn't have that time though because of you," she replied.

"And I'm sorry for that but…"

Lorelai held one hand up silencing her mother, "No buts. If you want to apologize, if you want me to come back to dinner, there will be no buts."

"Fine," Emily huffed, "Can I expect you at dinner tomorrow?"

Lorelai nodded, "On one condition."

"Of course," Emily replied with a roll of her eyes, "What condition would that be?"

"There will be no talk of Christopher at dinner. Christopher and I are not getting back together. He's with Sherry, they are engaged and they have a baby on the way. I, too, have a baby on the way but I can do this by myself. I'm not talking about Christopher. When we talked, thanks to you, I told him to go back to Sherry, to be there for his child with her. As for me, I don't need him around. Christopher is not going to be in the picture," Lorelai replied. "Is he ever going to know this child? I don't know. Honestly it would be easier if he didn't but I know I can't exactly do that."

"But…"

"Ah ah ah no buts," Lorelai reminded her.

"Fine, no talk of Christopher."

"Really?" Lorelai asked arching her eyebrow, "It's that easy to get you to give up mentioning Christopher when that's all you ever done my entire life?"

"If it means that you will me be in my future grandchild's life, then yes. I don't want things to be like they were when you were young. I want to know this child growing up. I want to see this baby more than just on the holidays," Emily replied softly; a tone that Lorelai never really heard her use before. It was heartfelt, "I want to see this child grow-up. Plus it's not like I can make you get back together with him, even if it is right, you were always too stubborn, even as a child."

Lorelai smirked, even in a sincere apology her mother was going to throw in something about how she should be with Christopher. Maybe the pregnancy was making her more sentimental but she really believed her and she wanted her baby girl to grow up knowing her grandparents.

"Good, I'll see you at dinner tomorrow then," Lorelai said.

"Good," Emily replied.

Both women sat around the table quietly. Occasionally they would look at one another waiting for the other one to say something. Lorelai drummed her fingers on the table trying to drown out the silence. After a few minutes, Emily cleared her throat.

"So how is everything going?" Emily asked. "How are you and the baby?"

"Baby and I are fine," Lorelai answered. "At my last appointment the doctor said she was growing at the rate she should be, my health was great, and that so far it's a pretty normal and healthy pregnancy," she replied not noticing she slipped the pronoun she into the sentence when describing the baby.

"She?" Emily asked catching the pronoun usage, "You're having another girl?"

Lorelai nodded realizing she had let it slip; it wasn't like she was keeping it a secret. She would have to tell her mother at some point anyways, "Yes, I am having a girl. In February, you and dad will have another grand-daughter."

Emily smiled a soft smile, "That's just wonderful; another girl."

"Another girl," Lorelai repeated. "I actually didn't tell dad that the other day, but you could tell him or I could tell him tomorrow."

"Okay," Emily replied as she stood up from the table, "I guess I will see you tomorrow then."

Lorelai stood up and followed her mother to the door. She said goodbye and once again said that she would be coming to dinner tomorrow night. Once Emily was gone, Lorelai shut the door and headed back towards the kitchen. It looked like she would be headed back to dinner tomorrow. Maybe things between her and her parents were looking up. At least for now.

* * *

Friday morning, after seeing Rory off to school, Lorelai strolled into the diner. The diner was packed giving her no choice but to sit at the counter; which didn't matter because she had no one to eat with today and sitting at the counter gave her a chance to talk to Luke.

"Good morning Luke," Lorelai greeted with a smile.

"Good morning," Luke replied. "What can I get you?"

"Blueberry pancakes and sausage," Lorelai listed in reply, "and coffee," she added in hopes of receiving regular coffee and not decaf for once.

Luke put in her order with Cesar before grabbing the decaf coffee pot and filling a cup for her, "Decaf coffee."

Lorelai pouted but accepted the coffee anyways, "The doctor said one cup of coffee is fine. I don't always have to drink decaf."

"You're getting decaf from me."

"You're no fun," Lorelai replied, "Oh you are never going to believe what happened to me yesterday."

"Are you waiting for me to take a guess or are you just going to tell me?" Luke asked.

"I'll just tell you because you're never going to guess. My mom dropped by my house," Lorelai said, "She said that she wanted to talk. Turns out she actually wanted to apologize for the whole incident at her house when I told her I was pregnant and apologize for sticking her nose in my business and calling Christopher."

"She actually apologized to you?" Luke asked shocked.

"I know! I'm sure Hell has frozen over but she actually apologized," Lorelai replied, "I think she really meant the apology too. She sounded like she did, so I'm going back to dinner tonight. I know we planned another movie night but since I'm going to dinner, I don't think a movie night is going to happen."

"Oh," Luke replied. He sounded disappointed, at least to Lorelai.

"I mean I like our movie nights, I told you that last week so we can reschedule for another night but no movie night tonight, I'm usually not in the mood after returning home from dinner," Lorelai said.

"Okay."

"You're not upset are you?" Lorelai asked, "We can do movie night some other time."

"No, I'm fine. We can do movie night whenever," Luke replied, "Let me go check on your food."

"Okay," Lorelai whispered as Luke walked away. Even though he had reassured her, it still seemed that he was disappointed.

Breakfast was filled with awkward silences and pauses in their conversation. Once she was finished with breakfast, Lorelai assured Luke that they would have another movie night soon since they both enjoyed spending the time together. After having Luke make her some hot chocolate, Lorelai was out the door and headed to the Inn.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai and Rory were gathered together with Emily and Richard in the Gilmore living room.

"What would you two like to drink?" Richard asked from the drink cart.

"Water," Lorelai answered.

"Soda," Rory answered.

"It's nice to have you back at dinner," Richard commented as he handed their drink to them.

"Thank you Dad," Lorelai replied.

"I told you father the news," Emily replied, "Of the baby being a girl, we are both happy about it."

"But we would have been equally as happy with a boy," Richard interjected.

"Except for the fact, I never raised a little boy," Lorelai replied taking a sip of her drink.

The maid entered, "Dinner is ready Mrs. Gilmore."

"Marcel is it 7 yet?" Emily asked snidely.

Marcel shook her head, "Well no Mrs. Gilmore but the food's ready now."

"You know we don't eat until 7," Emily replied, "You may come get us when it's 7," she added dismissing the maid. Emily sat up suddenly as she remembered something, "Oh Lorelai, I have something for you."

Before Lorelai could reply, Emily left the room and headed upstairs. Lorelai and Rory shot each other curious looks. She looked over at her father, "Do you know what she's going after?"

Richard shook his head, "I don't know what she is up too."

"Okay," Lorelai lowered her voice, "Thank you for whatever you said to her, she promised that she actually wanted to be here for the baby. It just meant a lot Dad."

Richard smiled, "And it means a lot that you're at dinner tonight."

A few minutes later, Emily descended the staircase with shopping bags in her hands. As she walked past Lorelai, she sat the shopping bags down and continued on to her seat. Lorelai and Rory both peeked at the bags then looked back up at Emily.

"What's this?" Lorelai asked pointing to the bags.

"Just a few things I picked up today," Emily replied, "I had some shopping to do and happened to see a few things so I bought them. Go ahead and look."

"Okay," Lorelai replied slowly as she sat her drink down. She pulled one of the shopping bags into her lap and began to sort through its contents. She pulled out an assortment of pink and purple onesies. "Baby clothes?" she asked looking up at Emily.

"Well they are not going to fit you or Rory," Emily replied.

As Lorelai searched through the rest of the bags, she come across several outfits, including dresses that Lorelai knew Emily would want the baby dressed in once she brought her to dinner, dresses that were simple, and several other onesies in various colors; none with whimsical sayings on them though but Lorelai wasn't surprised by that considering most of the clothes looked like expensive designer baby clothes that only Emily Gilmore would buy.

"Thank you Mom but you really didn't have to do this," Lorelai said as she put the items back into their shopping bags.

"I just wanted to do something for my future grandchild. This child is coming into the world whether or not her parents are together," Emily said.

"Mom," Lorelai warned, "It's not too late for me to leave. No talk of Christopher in any way that was our deal."

"Don't leave Lorelai," Emily replied. "I bought this because I want my grandchild to be well dressed and as for our deal, I do expect to see her at dinner. Of course not right away, but when you get comfortable bringing her over."

"Hence the dresses," Lorelai said holding up a shopping bag. "Thank you Mom."

"You're welcome," Emily replied quickly. "Now that that is out of the way, we can go have dinner."

Dinner passed by somewhat peacefully, Emily tried to bring up Christopher once more but Lorelai shut her down saying that once again she would leave dinner if she had to. With that, Emily dropped any mentions of Christopher much to Lorelai's surprise. Rory talked applying to Harvard and Lorelai talked about the Inn, answering just a few questions about her pregnancy. After dinner, Lorelai and Rory loaded up the jeep with the purchases Emily had given Lorelai before heading back to Stars Hollow.

"So dinner was weird, right?" Lorelai asked glancing over at Rory as she drove.

"Dinner was weird," Rory agreed with a nod of her head.

"I mean she was too agreeable on everything right?" Lorelai asked, "After her second comment about your dad and I shut her down, she just agreed with everything I said. No snide comments or anything."

"Pod Emily," Rory replied.

"Definitely Pod Emily," Lorelai said. "I mean she seems so calm about the pregnancy now. She's actually buying clothes. It's just all too weird. Just a few days ago she was still ready to chew my head off for not coming to dinner and not talking to Christopher but now she's fine."

"Grandpa's probably the reason she is acting like this now," Rory said, "I wonder what he said to her to make her actually act supportive."

"Me too," Lorelai agreed only knowing tidbits of what Emily and Richard had talked about when Emily stopped by her house. "Me too kid," she repeated.

* * *

**As always I would appreciate if you would leave a review :)**


	10. Chapter 10

"Where have you been?" Lorelai asked as Rory entered the house. She was currently sitting at the kitchen table snacking on an apple.

"Oh you know, I was just with Dean," Rory replied joining her mother at the table.

That was a lie. A small lie but still a lie. She was lying for her mother's benefit. She was actually at Sookie's going over even more plans for Lorelai's surprise baby shower. They worked out a few last details involving how to spread the word around town but keeping it from Lorelai, the flavor and decoration of the cake, and how they were going to decorate the dance studio. Miss Patty had already given them permission to use the dance studio. She joined the party planning committee with Sookie and Rory and assured them that she would spread the word.

"Really?" Lorelai asked arching an eyebrow, "Because I stopped by Doose's after I left the diner and Dean was working."

"Oh…well," Rory stammered.

"Are you lying to me Rory?" Lorelai asked. "I mean there's really nothing you can do to get in trouble in Stars Hollow but I don't understand why you're lying to me about being with Dean."

"Well what I meant to say was that I stopped by Doose's for just a few minutes to see Dean but then I realized we couldn't hang out if he was working so I went to see Lane," Rory replied quickly. A terrible comeback but it sounded plausible.

Lorelai eyed her skeptically, "Okay…" she carried out. "Are you okay? You're acting strange. You're all pale and jittery."

"I'm fine, just maybe a little too much coffee. You know have to get back used to the caffeine since Luke insists of giving us both decaf," Rory replied.

Lorelai shook her head, "There is definitely something wrong with you."

"What?"

"You can never have too much coffee, that's just crazy. I miss Luke's coffee, the real coffee not the decaf."

"Well I'm just going to go in my room, study a little bit," Rory replied as she got up from the table and walked towards her room.

"Wait," Lorelai called out as Rory tried to walk away, "Let me tell you the story about Luke and the woman that decided to breastfeed in the diner!"

Rory turned around, "What?" she asked sitting back down.

Lorelai smiled, "Hah! I knew that would get your attention. So anyways there's apparently this group of parents and babies that come in on the weekends. Well Luke was complaining about them then that led to a discussion of my baby and he would be fine with her being in the diner since he knows I will actually order food and not take up a bunch of space like those parents. Although I did say I would take up some space but if he agreed to give me coffee I wouldn't be annoying like those parents. But if he did withhold a lot of the coffee and still then I would be exactly like those parents just sitting there all day taking up all the space."

"Does this story have a point?" Rory asked, "I really do have to study."

"Ugh fine, I'll get to the point," Lorelai said, "Anyways this woman decides to just start breastfeeding her baby in the diner. Luke gets grossed out and was going to say something to her then told me that I should say something to her."

"Why you?" Rory asked.

"Because I'm a woman and we have the same parts."

"Same parts?" Rory asked trying not to laugh.

"I know, and because I'm also pregnant," Lorelai replied. "But I didn't say anything to her. It did freak Jess out though which was funny and enough for Luke to not want to kick them out right away. I also had to promise Luke that if I was going to do that then I could not do it in the diner, like I would do that anyways."

"Yeah don't do that in the diner; I don't need to see that," Rory replied, "Is the story over now? I really do have a lot to study."

"You're free to go study; just leave your poor mommy all alone," Lorelai sighed. "Ooh hey later want to help me pick a baby name? I've thought about it but I just can't decide on a name."

"After I study," Rory yelled from her room.

"Ooh also never talk to new people!" Lorelai yelled, "I did and now I'm responsible for watering his lawn."

"What?" Rory asked popping her head out of her room.

"Apparently this Dwight guy nearby is going away for a few days and I'm in charge of watering his lawn," Lorelai replied, "He also touched my belly without permission. He's very strange."

"Stranger than Kirk?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "Oh no, not that strange. But I could do without the whole belly touching thing, it's weird. Miss Patty and Babette still try to feel my belly whenever I'm around them," she pushed herself up from the table and walked towards Rory's room. "Okay, now I will definitely leave you to your studying. I'm going upstairs to take a nap."

"Are you feeling okay?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded, "I'm fine, just tired. Study hard," she said before walking away from Rory's room and heading up the stairs.

* * *

Rory had been put in charge of now watering Dwight's lawn seeing as Lorelai needed to head back to work and couldn't stop for a few minutes to water the lawn. She managed to turn the sprinklers on however as she tried to turn them off, she only ended up causing the water to shoot up higher. She thought about paging Dean until she realized that her pager was not with her. Instead she ended up on a trek through town and brought Jess back with her to help.

"You don't have to do this. I didn't ask you to do this," Rory said as she followed Jess up the pathway to Dwight's house. Jess headed towards the sprinklers, "I can just find someone else to do it. Aw, you made it look so easy," she said with a slight pout as Jess reached down and turned off the sprinkler.

Jess shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, it was loose. You just had to press down and give it a good twist, that's all."

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome. So things are good?" Jess asked.

Rory nodded, "Oh, yeah, really good," she replied fidgeting with her hands.

"School?"

"Good."

"Still going do the Harvard thing?"

"Yeah," Rory replied.

Jess nodded his head, "Good."

"Yeah, good. So…" Rory trailed off. This was awkward. She had to admit that she liked Jess, especially after the kiss they shared at Sookie's wedding but she was with Dean. She chose Dean. She told her mother she chose Dean.

"So…" Jess replied.

"Thank you again for helping out, I was going to page Dean but I don't have my pager so that wasn't happening," Rory let out a small, nervous laugh.

"Dean," Jess said spitefully, "I should go."

"Yeah" Rory replied, "Wait a minute!" she added at the last minute causing Jess to turn around and face her again. "Sookie and I are planning a baby shower for my mother soon, it's a secret."

"Okay…" Jess replied not sure why Rory was telling him this.

"But I know that she's going to want Luke there, I can talk to him about it but maybe you should mention it too. Get Luke to come to the baby shower," Rory said, "It's open to everyone, you can come too."

Jess nodded, under normal circumstances there was no way he would go to a baby shower but if Rory was there, he might show up. "Okay, I'll try."

"Really?" Rory asked, "You'll really try?"

"That's what I said."

Rory smiled, "That was very easy. I thought you would object to the idea."

"Well seeing Luke squirm like he does at town functions will be fun," Jess simply replied.

Rory rolled her eyes, "Of course, if he'll come."

"He'll go, it is for Lorelai after all," Jess replied. He wasn't a fool. He knew, like everyone in the town, that Luke had a thing for Lorelai, it wasn't hard to see. The whole her being pregnant thing was definitely a kink in things but Luke was still there for her.

"Right," Rory replied nervously looking around as if Dean might come by at any moment. He didn't like her talking to Jess, "I should go. Go change, all that."

"See ya around Rory," Jess said before finally turning and walking away.

* * *

Lorelai stood at the front desk of the Inn scribbling on two different pieces of paper. On one piece of paper, she had a list going of items she still needed to buy for the baby; which pretty much was everything a baby could ever need. She had a few clothes that Emily had bought and ones that she bought on a small shopping excursion recently. Her research lately had led her to find different cribs online which she planned on going shopping for soon. She would just need a way to transport everything; she was convinced that she could not fit a crib box and mattress into her jeep.

On her second piece of paper were ideas for how to make the Europe trip up to Rory; something that they could do together that would also work with bringing a baby along, so far she had nothing. She still felt terrible that she could not provide her daughter with the one thing that she wanted, the one thing that they had planned for so long.

Lorelai placed her pen down in between the two sheets of paper. Lists were a thing that Rory always made and now that Lorelai was depending on. However the lists were not very helpful right now, her brain was just too jumbled up right now. She needed a break from the Inn. Her days had been filled with working at the Inn recently, trying to put in as much time as she could before having the baby.

"Michel, I'm going to lunch," Lorelai said as she folded up her two pieces of paper and slid them into her purse.

"Leave me here as always," Michel replied.

"Would you like to go to lunch with me?" Lorelai asked, "You're free to join."

Michel thought about her offer for a moment, "Where are you going? The diner with the flannel man?"

Lorelai nodded, "Yes, I'm going to Luke's, still want to join?"

"You know I don't eat anything there," Michel replied in his snotty tone, "I'll stay here. I do all the work anyways."

Lorelai just rolled her eyes as she continued gathering the rest of her things. A few minutes later, Lorelai walked out of the Inn and climbed into her jeep. She drove out of the Inn's driveway and headed towards the diner.

Upon reaching the diner, Lorelai strolled in and took up residence at an empty table. Not long after sitting down, she gave her order to Luke who went into the kitchen to prepare her food. Lorelai was going over her lists once again, when she looked up to find that Kirk had joined her at her table.

"May I help you Kirk?" Lorelai asked.

"Lorelai," Kirk announced her name, "It has come to my attention that you are pregnant."

Lorelai smirked, "Really Kirk? And how did that come to your attention?"

"Well I can tell that you are by looking at you and we have a pool going around town about when you will have the baby," Kirk replied, "Cash is on the line," he stated seriously as he narrowed his eyes.

"So are you going to try to convince me to have my baby on a certain day so you can win? Because you know that's not really how that works," Lorelai said.

"Oh no, no, no," Kirk said shaking his head, "I actually have an offer for you, an offer that you should really consider."

Lorelai sat back in her chair preparing herself for yet another Kirk business venture; she rested one hand on her baby bump, "What exactly is this offer?"

"I stopped by your house just a few minutes ago, no one was there but the door was unlocked so I went in," Kirk started.

Lorelai held up her hand, "You went to my house when I wasn't there? Why did you do that?"

"I was investigating for my new business," Kirk explained, "You will have a baby in a few months and that means your house should be baby-proofed."

"Baby-proofed?"

"Yes, baby-proofed. You see houses are full of dangers for kids; they can fall in toilets, fall down the stairs, and fall into open drawers. They can slam their hand in the door," Kirk said, "Houses are not very safe for babies."

Lorelai was amused, "Okay Kirk and how can I prevent my baby from falling in a toilet?"

"I'm glad you asked," Kirk said in his businessman tone, "I have decided to start my own business, Kirk's Baby-Proofing House Service. Name needs work but I will baby-proof your house for your new arrival. And I will give you a discount since you'll be my first customer."

"Kirk I don't think so…"

"Think again," Kirk replied, "Baby-proofing works, my mom let me baby-proof our house."

"But Kirk you don't have a baby."

"It was for me."

Lorelai nodded, it made perfect sense, "And how did that work out for you?"

"Well I can't open some cabinets in the house and the baby-gates are frustrating but it does work," Kirk replied, "It will work for you too."

"You know Kirk; I don't really think I will need you help this time. I'm good, my house isn't that dangerous," Lorelai replied.

"But you're the only person I know that's pregnant and people that are having babies do not want their house baby-proofed."

"Kirk, what are you doing?" Luke asked walking up to the table. He set Lorelai's food in front of her.

"I was just telling Lorelai about my new business, the business of baby-proofing," Kirk replied looking up at Luke.

"You know what Kirk? I'll think about it, okay?" Lorelai asked.

"You know where to find me if you want my business," Kirk replied seriously before getting up from Lorelai's table and leaving the diner.

"You're not seriously considering his offer are you?" Luke asked crossing his arms.

"God no Luke, I want the house to be livable. I'm pretty sure if he tried to baby-proof the house he might somehow make it more dangerous," Lorelai replied. "My house is fine without Kirk doing anything to it."

"Good," Luke replied, "He'll have a new job soon anyways."

Lorelai smiled, "That's true," she said before starting to eat her lunch.

* * *

**So next chapter: Lorelai goes to drop Rory off at Sherry's baby shower.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Hello!" Lorelai called as she walked in the door from the latest town meeting. She stayed behind a few extra minutes to talk to Luke. As she walked into the house, she flipped through the mail in her hands sorting out the bills from the junk.

"I'm in here!" Rory called from the living room.

Lorelai walked into the living room to see Rory curled up on the couch studying, "Wow, you beat me home by two minutes and your nose is already in the books."

Rory looked up from her book, "I can go from zero to studying in less than sixty seconds."

Lorelai nodded, "Very impressive. Mail call," she said handing an envelope to Rory.

"What's this?" Rory asked inspecting the envelope.

Lorelai walked over to the small table and placed the rest of the mail down to look at later. She glanced over at Rory, "Mortgage payment. You mind picking it up this month sweetie, baby, cookie, honey?"

"No, not at all."

"It's just something addressed to you," Lorelai said as she walked back towards Rory. She pushed Rory's books out of the way and sat down on the couch next to her. She ran a hand over her belly as she watched Rory open her mail.

"It's an invitation," Rory said.

"Hmm," Lorelai mused leaning her head back on the couch and closing her eyes.

"Oh," Rory sighed.

"An invitation to what?" Lorelai asked still keeping her eyes closes, "Oh is it the White House again? Those boys never give up."

"It's to Sherry's baby shower," Rory replied.

"Who?" Lorelai asked her brain foggy not making the Sherry connection.

"Sherry," Rory emphasized, "Sherry Tinsdale. Dad's Sherry?"

Lorelai sat up now fully aware of what was going on, "You're kidding."

Rory shook her head, "It's at her and Dad's house on Sunday."

Lorelai took a moment to digest the information. So Christopher did like he said and had not told Sherry that she too was pregnant. She never figured he would. She told him not too. Sherry had no clue just how big the situation was. She also must have no clue that Christopher had no contact with them in weeks, besides the time that he showed up at her house after Emily told him about the pregnancy. She didn't realize how long she had been quiet until Rory began tapping her on the shoulder.

"Mom?" Rory called while still tapping on her shoulder.

Lorelai pulled herself out of her thoughts, "Hmm?"

"Are you okay? You seemed out of it for a while there," Rory replied.

"I'm fine. But doesn't she know that we haven't had any contact with your dad recently? She must know that."

"Well…" Rory said, "I've had some contact with Dad."

"What does some contact mean?" Lorelai asked.

"A few emails and a few phone calls," Rory replied.

"When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"

Rory shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. It started not too long ago; not too long after he showed up here to talk to you. He emailed me, I emailed back, and then he started calling me. That's it though."

"Oh…" Lorelai trailed off.

"I'm sorry," Rory apologized.

Lorelai waved her off, "Don't apologize. He's your dad. Even if I dislike him at the moment, you should talk to him. I don't want this to come between you and him. If you want to talk to him, talk to him."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Lorelai groaned.

"Sorry."

Lorelai shot her a look, "I said stop apologizing."

"Okay, no more apologizing," Rory said, "He asked about you and the baby but I don't mention anything about the baby, just you. I figured you might not want him to know."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay."

"What should I do about this?" Rory asked holding up the invitation.

"It's your call," Lorelai replied. She wanted to tell her not to go but that wasn't fair. This should be Rory's decision and Rory's decision alone.

"I guess being in Dad's world automatically means being in Sherry's."

"And it is your little half brother or sister she's carrying," Lorelai said. _But I'm carrying your real sister, this kid would be fully related to you, _Lorelai thought.

"I know, it's weird."

Lorelai nodded, "Sort of a good reason to make some connection with her."

Rory sighed, "Yeah, but it's gonna be one of those brunchy quichey things where I don't know anyone, and it's all the way in Boston," she said trying to find an excuse to not go; not that she didn't want to go but it would be weird. Plus she still had some planning to do for her mother's baby shower which would take place next weekend. Next Sunday to be exact.

"I'll drive you there if you want," Lorelai offered despite her best judgment. Driving Rory there might not be the best move; it could mean interaction with Sherry if she was really unlucky.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll do some Boston shopping while you quiche it," Lorelai replied. She did need to do some shopping. "I have shopping to do anyways for your sister so I can do that while you do the whole baby shower thing."

"And we can set up some sort of SOS signal that I can page you with if I want to bail early?" Rory asked.

"Sure."

"What should the SOS signal be?"

"How about. . .SOS?" Lorelai suggested.

Rory nodded, "Perfect."

"So, speaking of baby showers," Lorelai began, "You do realize that I am also having a baby which is going to need to be showered with gifts, right?"

"Right," Rory confirmed.

"So is there a baby shower in the works for me? Or am I supposed to plan one; you know I don't actually think I'm supposed to plan anything about it. I can know about it but you as my daughter, who is grown, could spend the time to plan one for me. After all, I am bringing your baby sister into the world," Lorelai replied.

"We'll see," Rory replied with a grin, "Who knows, I could have already planned something. You never know."

"Have you?"

"Not telling," Rory replied. She stretched and faked a yawn, "You know I'm tired, I better hurry up and study before I pass out," she said as she gathered her books from the couch and headed into her bedroom.

"Nice move," Lorelai called out as Rory shut the door to her bedroom. She sighed and reached forward to the coffee table and grabbed her baby name book. "I have to find something to call you," she said as she rubbed one hand over her belly, "I can't keep referring to you as just baby."

* * *

Saturday afternoon, Lorelai and Sookie sat at a small table in the dinner as they enjoyed lunch. They both had time off from the Inn and wanted to have lunch together.

"So I have a plan for dropping Rory off at Sherry's baby shower tomorrow," Lorelai said as she popped a french fry into her mouth.

"What's your plan this time?" Sookie asked.

"So I want to avoid having contact with Sherry which should be easy seeing as I'm just dropping her off but I don't want to take any chances so when I get in front of their house, I'm going to slow down just enough to kick Rory out of the car," Lorelai said, "Slow down enough so she won't get hurt but still fast enough that I don't have to actually stop the car."

"You can't do that," Sookie reasoned.

Lorelai sighed, "I know."

"Besides like you said you're just dropping her off so you won't have any contact with any one at the shower, it will be fine," Sookie replied.

"Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?" Lorelai asked, "I could use a shopping buddy."

"Sorry," Sookie apologized, "I can't, not tomorrow anyways. Jackson and I are visiting with his family."

Lorelai pouted just a little, "It's okay, I can shop by myself. I plan on at least trying to buy a crib tomorrow and maybe a few new clothes for me and for the baby."

"You sure? We can go another day if you want too," Sookie offered.

"I'm sure," Lorelai replied, "Plus I'm going to be in Boston tomorrow anyways so shopping will be done."

"You're going to Boston tomorrow?" Luke asked as he approached the table to bring Lorelai and Sookie the pie they requested when they first ordered their food.

"Yep," Lorelai replied.

"Why are you going to Boston?" Luke asked.

Lorelai sighed, "Rory received an invitation to Sherry's baby shower. Sherry as in Christopher's fiancé Sherry. I'm dropping her off then spending the day there shopping so I can take Rory home whenever she wants."

Luke leaned down bracing his arms on the table, "Is that a good idea? You going there?" he asked. "Just with everything that has gone on, do you really think it's a good idea to go up there?"

"He," Lorelai said emphasizing the word "Is not going to be there. I'll be fine. I'm just dropping her off then shopping. I'll be okay Luke, really," she said softly. "I will be fine."

Luke nodded, "Okay," he said as he pushed away from the table. She watched him as he walked away from the table and back behind the counter.

Lorelai turned around to find Sookie watching her with a curious look on her face. "What?" Lorelai asked.

"He seemed very concerned about your trip to Boston," Sookie noted.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "He's my friend and he's concerned, so what?"

"Lorelai, you know it's more than that," Sookie said.

Lorelai sat quietly. Ever since finding out she was pregnant and telling Luke that she was pregnant, she and Luke had grown even closer. Closer as friends, that's the way things had to be. Between their movie dates and the talks they shared recently, she almost began to see Luke in a different light. There was just something different between them lately. Something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was crazy though, they were friends, just good friends.

"We're friends Sookie," Lorelai replied, "That's all; I'm pregnant," she said lowering her voice, "so it doesn't matter how I feel or how Luke feels, we're friends; nothing else."

"Okay, sorry," Sookie apologized knowing she had pushed just a little too far. Lorelai was very touchy lately when it came to her feelings. Lorelai just blamed everything on the hormones.

Lorelai pushed the subject from her mind as she started to eat the piece of pie in front of her. The rest of lunch passed by with small talk being made over various issues; Lorelai threw out some baby names she was thinking about while Sookie suggested some baby names to Lorelai.

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai and Rory set out for Boston. Lorelai had researched a few stores the night before so she would know which ones she wanted to go to first for shopping for her baby. Rory suggested researching places so Lorelai could shop more efficiently, especially since Rory did not feel like staying at the baby shower long. She knew that she probably would not get along with any one there.

"This must be the place," Lorelai said as they pulled up in front of Sherry and Christopher's house.

Rory nodded, "I think the balloons confirm it," she pointed out.

"No pink, no blue," Lorelai noted.

"All green," Rory agreed.

Lorelai glanced over at Rory, "Aren't baby shower balloons supposed to reflect the sex of the baby? Blue for boys, pink for girls."

Rory nodded, "You would think." With all the planning she had been doing of her mother's baby shower lately, she and Sookie had decided on pink everything. After all she was having a girl and the universal color for telling the world you are having a girl is pink.

"What's green for, aliens?" Lorelai guessed.

"I'll ask when I go in."

"We're all set, right? Anytime you want out, just send up a flare," Lorelai said.

"I will."

"Even if I'm half-naked in a changing room, I'll just grab everything and rush out," Lorelai said, "Although the belly is a little cumbersome so rushing out may not be as fast as I want it to be."

"You making a half-naked entrance would be funny," Rory replied with a slight giggle.

They were both so wrapped up in their conversation that they did not notice Sherry exiting the house and making her way towards the Jeep. Sherry placed one hand on her bump as she suddenly popped up in Rory's window.

"Hi," Sherry said.

"Whoa!" Rory said jumping slightly in her seat.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I totally snuck up on you," Sherry apologized with a smile.

"It's okay, hi," Rory replied.

"Hi, Rory," Sherry said before directing her gaze over to Lorelai, "Lorelai, I'm…" she trailed off in the middle of her sentence as her eyes fell down to Lorelai's baby bump.

Lorelai glanced away from looking at Sherry for just a moment trying to hide the panic on her face. She thought that she would be able to just drop Rory off without having any interaction with Sherry however that was not the case. Her hand moved from the steering wheel to her baby bump as she looked over at Sherry.

"I didn't know you were….Didn't we run into you recently?" Sherry asked trying to remember if she had seen Lorelai recently. If she had, she did not remember her being pregnant.

Lorelai stayed silent trying to figure out the right answer; trying to figure out exactly what she wanted to say.

"Yeah we did run into you in that one store," Sherry said remembering the event, "I thought you said your friend was pregnant, not you. You are pregnant aren't you?" she asked not taking her eyes off of Lorelai's baby bump.

Lorelai patted her baby bump, "That or I just had a really big breakfast," she stammered out. Jokes, she could use jokes to get through this, maybe. Seeing as Sherry was confused, she continued on, "I'm pregnant," she admitted through gritted teeth. She just wanted to get out of here.

Sherry cocked her head to the side, "But I thought you said your friend was pregnant, not you."

"Well I am pregnant," Lorelai said, "I was surprised as was my boyfriend," she blurted out. She was lying at this point but it didn't matter it wasn't like Sherry had to be a part of her life. Sherry had to be a part of Rory's life but not Lorelai's.

"Oh," Sherry said awkwardly, "So um, you're pregnant too, that's…." she paused, "Good, I guess."

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed. This was a terrible situation. She was hoping to avoid Sherry but unfortunately she just popped up. She was a pop-up doll from Hell; a hell full of awkward glances and eerie silences.

Sherry looked around; she saw one of her friends in the window of her house motioning for her to get back inside. She gave a signal saying that she would be back in just a minute, "Christopher never said anything about it, or Rory never mentioned it when she talked to him; he never told me."

"Well…" Lorelai was at a loss for words. She was rarely at a loss for words; she always had some sort of comeback but not right now. She just wanted to leave but Rory was still in the car, she couldn't just kick her out. Plus Sherry was blocking Rory's door.

Sherry laughed nervously as she and Lorelai exchanged glances. Lorelai cleared her throat as she cast a glance over at Rory that could only mean please help me. Rory shrugged her shoulders not sure what to do. Lorelai sighed and glanced down then back up at Sherry who she could tell was faking a smile.

"So umm," Rory said, "We should probably get inside right?" she asked looking at Sherry.

Sherry didn't react right away. "Oh yeah we probably should, you're the only one we were waiting for," she said as she stepped away from the door.

Lorelai leaned over as Rory started to unbuckle her seat belt, "Remember call me whenever you need a rescue."

"Okay." Rory replied quietly, "Are you okay?" she whispering nodding her head towards Sherry.

"I'm fine sweets, you go baby shower it up," Lorelai replied sitting back up, "I'll go shop it up."

Rory opened up her car door, "I'll call when I'm ready."

Lorelai nodded in response as Rory stepped out of the car. She watched as Sherry led Rory up to the house. Once both Sherry and Rory were inside, Lorelai drove away headed towards the mall.

* * *

That afternoon, just a few hours after dropping Rory off, Lorelai headed back to Sherry and Christopher's in order to pick Rory up. After waiting a few minutes, the door opened and Rory exited followed by plenty of shouts from Sherry's friends. Rory made her way towards the car, climbed in, and buckled her seat belt.

"Have fun?" Lorelai asked as she drove off and began the journey back to Stars Hollow.

Rory sighed, "It was okay. All of her friends were drinking so they were all drunk during most of the party and just very annoying."

"So did you bail early? Was the party still going on when I got there?" Lorelai asked.

Rory nodded, "I just got bored, I couldn't stay anymore. She kept talking about Dad and how good he was with the baby already and I just didn't want to hear any more of it."

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry."

Rory shook her head, "It's okay. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Lorelai asked. Rory nodded. "So what's the verdict? Is she having an alien? Is that why the balloons were green?" she asked casting a quick glance over at Rory.

"Apparently green's the new pink, she's having a girl," Rory replied.

"Jeez, I can't have one thing to myself," Lorelai muttered, "Total copycat."

"And apparently since she knows I'm going to Harvard, she has already made a plan for when I can come visit her and Dad. She mapped out just exactly how far Harvard is from her house," Rory said.

"But on the weekends, you're coming to visit me, you can't really do both. I mean you have to get to visit with your baby sister so she won't forget who you are and visit me so I won't forget who you are."

"Like you would forget who I am."

"I don't know, I might have baby brain just solely focused on diapers and bottles and if you don't visit often then I might really forget you," Lorelai said.

"I'm going to visit you," Rory replied, "There's no doubt about that. Most of my visits will be to you."

"That's all I'm asking."

Rory turned around and looked in the backseat where just a few shopping bags lay. She then turned back to her mother, "You didn't buy very much today. Did I ruin your shopping trip by calling?"

Lorelai waved her off breezily, "Don't worry about that. I bought more than what's back there. It's just the crib I wanted, they did not have in stock so they ordered it for me and it will be sent to our house in a few weeks. So I now have the crib and a mattress for the crib, or at least I will in a few weeks."

Rory nodded, "Okay, what else did you buy?"

"Some bedding for the crib, and whoever said green was the new pink is seriously disturbed. It's just stupid. My girl has pink blankets not green," Lorelai replied, "I also bought a mobile for the crib, some more clothes, some cute shoes that she'll probably never wear because babies don't really wear shoes for that long, and just some small things like bottles and what-not. I mean I still need a lot of things but we have time."

"And I'm planning on buying you something, which I will make sure is pink. Everything that Sherry received was green, it was strange," Rory said. "Are you okay? You didn't seem so fine when you left earlier."

"I'm fine. I was a little upset at the time but shopping helped. I'm okay, really. Don't worry. Seeing her wasn't in the plan but it also wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Lorelai replied.

"Hey when we get back home can we go by Luke's?" Rory asked, "I'm getting hungry. All they had to eat was brunchy type food and I really want a burger from Luke's."

"Oh me too. While I was shopping, I started craving a burger so I stopped to get one but it was disgusting, it was then I realized that I wasn't just craving a burger, I wanted a burger from Luke's."

"So Luke's it is then."

Lorelai nodded in agreement, "Luke's."

* * *

Sometime later, they finally arrived back in Stars Hollow and headed straight for Luke's. As they walked in, Lorelai managed to claim a table just as a customer was leaving. It seemed they had arrived towards the end of the dinner rush. Several people still populated the diner; however most people had their orders. They only had to wait a few minutes before Luke came to take their orders.

"Cheeseburger, side salad, and water," Lorelai ordered.

Rory followed with her order, "Cheeseburger, fries, and coke."

"Oh wait fries sound good. I want chili cheese fries," Lorelai added in.

Luke scribbled down the order, "You can have the fries but only after you eat the salad."

Lorelai sighed, "Fair enough."

"No fight about the salad this time?" Rory asked as Luke walked away to fill their orders.

Lorelai shook her head, "It's not worth it. I'm going to eat it anyways. Besides," she said casting a quick glance over her shoulder at Luke, "It's nice having someone actually care for what I'm eating and watching out for the baby. And it's not like he said no to the fries."

Rory nodded, "True."

Lorelai and Rory chatted while they waited for their food. They chatted even more while they ate their food. True to his word, Luke brought out a plate of chili-cheese fries only after Lorelai polished off her salad. As they ate, Lorelai talked more about her shopping day while Rory filled her in on a few more details of Sherry's baby shower. After finishing their food, Rory decided to head home to study a little while Lorelai went to pay for the food.

Lorelai approached Luke at the cash register and pushed money across the counter. After putting her money into the cash register and handing her back her change, Luke leaned down on the counter.

"How did today go?" Luke asked.

"Well there was an awkward run-in with Sherry and she knows I'm pregnant now," Lorelai replied, "But for all she knows, I have a boyfriend who is the father of my child. I just hope she's not smart enough to connect the dots with how far along I am and the last time I saw Christopher. But since I did tell her I'm dating someone maybe she won't even care."

"So you're okay?" Luke asked.

Lorelai smiled at his concern, "I'm fine. Retail therapy is the best therapy."

"You sure?" Luke asked reaching his hand across the counter and placing it on top of Lorelai's.

Lorelai let a small laugh escape her lips, "Jeez you and Rory. I assure you I'm fine. You both don't have to ask fifty times whether or not I'm okay. I'm okay."

Luke patted her hand once before pulling away, "Just checking."

Lorelai nodded, "I know. Movie night soon?" she asked.

"Sure," Luke replied.

"I'll even let you pick the movie this time. You should feel honored, not too many times I let the guest choose the movie."

"It's such a honor," Luke deadpanned.

"Ha-ha," Lorelai replied, "See you tomorrow."

With that, she turned and walked out the door. She gave Luke a small wave from her Jeep before driving off in the direction of her house.

* * *

**Next chapter: Lorelai's baby shower.**

**I have the next several chapters outlined so hopefully I will be able to update frequently.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Next Chapter is actually almost fully written but will probably not be posted until after the Holiday weekend. So Happy Fourth of July! If you are one to celebrate the holiday. Hope you have a great fourth of July and be safe!**

* * *

Thursday night, Lorelai invited Luke over for a movie night. Since she started attending Friday night dinners again, their movie nights were sporadic and spread out over different days. She was walking out of the kitchen and headed towards the living room when the front door opened and Luke walked inside.

"Hey," Lorelai greeted with a smile, "You're here."

"And I brought food," Luke said holding up two bags of food from the diner.

"Rory, Luke's here, he has food," Lorelai called as she walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Luke followed Lorelai into the living room and began arranging the food that he brought on the coffee table. Rory entered the living room and grabbed a piece of pie from the table.

"You're not going to join us?" Lorelai asked when she noticed Rory turning to walk away.

Rory shook her head, "No, I have some studying to do."

"Oh okay sweets," Lorelai replied, "We won't disturb you. Well we will try not to disturb you. I'll make sure Luke keeps quiet."

"Yeah because I'm the loud one," Luke said.

Lorelai grabbed a container of fries from the table and leaned back into the couch. She turned to face Luke, "So Mr. Movie Buff what movie did you select for us tonight?" she asked before popping a fry into her mouth.

Luke grabbed the bag from the video store and pulled out a copy of _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, _"I thought you might like this."

Lorelai squealed and playfully slapped his arm, "Luke! I love that movie. How did you know?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "It seemed like something you might like. It's about a chocolate factory so it seemed like a safe bet."

Lorelai nodded, "A very safe bet. Although you were supposed to choose something that you would like to see."

"I want to see this," Luke replied.

"Right because I look at you and think huge _Willy Wonka _fan," Lorelai replied, "But now that you brought it here, go put it on."

Luke got up from the couch without any argument and turned the movie on. Once the previews started playing, Luke set back down on the couch next to Lorelai. She nudged Luke until he turned to face her.

"What?" he asked.

"Pass me my water," Lorelai replied. "I would get it but that would mean I have to lean over you and it's kind of hard to lean with this belly all in the way. And I might crush you, I weigh a ton now."

"You do not weigh a ton," Luke said as he grabbed Lorelai's water bottle and handed it to her.

Lorelai sighed, "I feel like it."

Luke patted her knee, "You look great."

Lorelai smiled, "Such a good friend trying to placate the pregnant woman."

The both settled into the couch cushions as the movie began to play. Lorelai smiled and recited most of the lines of the movie much to Luke's annoyance. He was used to it though. She recited lines of the movies most of the time whenever they watched something together.

"You know I'm going to marry an oompa loompa one day," Lorelai said turning to look at Luke.

"You're going to marry one of those little orange men?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Yep."

Luke shook his head, "You're insane."

"No, think about it. I would have full time access to the chocolate factory. I could eat as much chocolate as I wanted. Who doesn't want to live in a chocolate factory?"

"Me."

Lorelai sighed, "Okay, well I meant besides you. You eat way too healthy to live in a chocolate factory," she paused, "Wait no; I couldn't live in a chocolate factory because that would mean that I could no longer have your coffee. So maybe living in a chocolate factory isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"You have put way too much thought into this," Luke replied.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "I do a lot of thinking."

She wiggled around in the couch once again until she was comfortable. As the movie played on, Lorelai ended up with her head resting on Luke's shoulder. Her hand rested on her belly feeling her baby move around. Towards the end of the movie, Lorelai turned her head up to look at Luke.

"Luke?" Lorelai called getting his attention.

Luke looked down at her, "Yeah?"

Lorelai sighed, "This is nice."

Luke smiled, "This is nice," he agreed.

"I'm glad we reinstated our movie nights. You're my best friend, I don't know why we didn't think of doing something like this sooner," Lorelai replied.

The credits rolled on the TV. Lorelai groaned and lifted her head from Luke's shoulder. "Movies over," she stated.

"I should probably go then," Luke said as he stood up from the couch, "I have to open the diner tomorrow anyways."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then."

He noticed her struggling just a bit to get up from the couch, he extended his hand, "Do you need help up?"

Lorelai scoffed, "I'm not that big yet. I can get up from the couch." She swatted his hand away as he tried to help causing him to smirk. After a few minutes, she pushed herself up from the couch and stood in front of Luke, "See I can get up by myself."

"You're stubborn," Luke replied as he turned to walk towards the front door.

"Am not," Lorelai argued as she walked behind him.

"You are definitely stubborn," Luke said.

"I'm not stubborn," Lorelai snapped back as Luke turned to face her as they stood in front of the door.

Luke rolled his eyes, "Fine, you're not stubborn."

Lorelai smiled, "Thank you." She held the door open for Luke as he exited, "See you tomorrow. Make sure you save a chocolate donut for me."

Luke nodded, "I will," he replied walking down the porch steps and across the yard.

* * *

Sunday morning, Lorelai walked downstairs to find that Rory was already up and busier than anyone should ever be on a Sunday morning. Sundays were a day of rest and due to her hectic week at the Inn, rest is exactly what she planned to do today.

"What's up with you?" Lorelai asked standing in front of Rory.

"What do you mean?" Rory asked as she headed towards her room. She darted around and seemed to be looking for something.

Lorelai poked her head into Rory's room, "You are never this active in the morning. Usually by this time you are just getting out of bed still decked out in your pajamas. But here you are fully dressed and you look like you have been awake for a while."

"I have things to do today," Rory informed her mother.

"But Sunday is the day of rest; I thought we could watch some movies today. Go ahead and start the educating process on your baby sister so she already knows about all the great movies," Lorelai replied. "Plus we haven't spent a whole lot of time together recently, we're both always busy."

"I know," Rory sighed, "But I can't do movies today. I'll make it up to you though. I just have to go now," she said walking out of her bedroom.

"Well are you at least going to tell me where you're going?" Lorelai asked following Rory to the front door.

"I'm going to Dean's," Rory lied. Really she was headed to the dance studio so they could get everything set up for Lorelai's baby shower.

Lorelai gasped, "Ditching your mother and baby sister for a boy? I thought I raised you right," she teased.

"He just needs help with his schoolwork so I agreed to help him study. He has to work later so this is the only time that worked," Rory replied, "I'll be back later and then we can watch movies."

"Fine," Lorelai groaned, "Go be with your boyfriend. Leave your poor mother all alone. I mean you're already going to leave me soon for school anyways. I thought you might want to spend all your free time with me."

"Are you trying to guilt trip me?"

"Is it working?"

Rory shook her head and smiled, "Not this time. I promise I won't be gone long. I'll be back to watch movies with you and help educate little no name."

Lorelai groaned again, "I have to think of a name for her. We cannot name her little no name."

"You'll think of one." Rory kissed her mother on the cheek, "I'll be back later."

Lorelai nodded as she watched Rory walk out of the house, "See you later," she whispered.

Lorelai went back to the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fridge. Something was definitely going on. Rory had been acting weird for the past few weeks. She was always running off somewhere. She said she always had plans with either Dean or Lane. The more Lorelai though about it the more she almost thought Rory might not be as happy about her baby sister as she thought. Maybe the reason Rory didn't want to spend as much time with Lorelai is because she didn't like that fact that soon there was going to be a baby added to the mix.

Lorelai ran a hand over her baby bump. She thought at one time that this might happen with Rory but then she also knew Rory was no ordinary kid and would always be there for her mother. She made the decision that she would talk to Rory later about everything and find out how Rory really felt. If she felt excluded then she would do her very best to make things right.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Lorelai was lounging around in her sweatpants watching TV while also flipping through a baby name book. She had a list of names that she was now thinking of. The list served as her bookmark.

"Mom?" Rory called as she walked through the front door.

"In here," Lorelai replied. She pushed herself into a sitting position as Rory walked into the living room, "Ready to watch movies now? Or do you have something else that needs to be done while you just completely forget about your poor mother?"

"Actually I came to get you because there's a town meeting that's about to start and we really need to get there," Rory replied.

"A town meeting? On a Sunday? Just after lunch time? A town meeting today?" Lorelai questioned.

"Yes, yes, yes, and yes," Rory replied. "Come on let's go."

Lorelai sighed, "Do we have to? I know I'm not one to skip town meetings but I just want to rest today."

"They said it was an emergency town meeting."

"Everything is an emergency with Taylor. He called an emergency town meeting about the 'Welcome to Stars Hollow sign' one time. It was not an emergency," Lorelai replied.

"Let's just go, we can go and then watch movies. I promise."

Lorelai sighed and pushed herself up from the couch, "Let me just change. I don't need a lecture from Taylor about how sweatpants are not appropriate town meeting attire," she said beginning her journey upstairs.

A few minutes later, Lorelai headed downstairs. Instead of sweatpants she now wore pants that she would not be embarrassed to wear in public. She walked past Rory and grabbed her coat from the coat-rack.

"I really do wonder why he needs to call an emergency town meeting on Sunday; doesn't he know that Sunday is the day of rest?" Lorelai asked opening the front door and walking out onto the porch.

"It's Taylor, I don't think he ever rests," Rory replied.

Lorelai nodded, "True."

A short walk later, Lorelai and Rory arrived in front of the dance studio.

"Are we late?" Lorelai asked looking at Rory. "It's not unusual but where is everyone else? I don't think we passed anyone on the way here."

Rory shrugged her shoulders, "They're probably already in there or like you said Sunday is the day of rest so they might be at home resting."

As Lorelai opened the doors, a loud shout of "Surprise!" echoed throughout the dance studio. Lorelai stood in the doorway just taking in the sight before her. It seemed as if everyone was in the dance studio. She glanced around quickly and spotted a banner declaring "It's a girl!" There were pink decorations everywhere.

"Are you surprised?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded slowly, "I most definitely am. Is this…"

"Your baby-shower?" Rory finished. She smiled brightly, "This is your baby shower. Your super-secret surprise baby-shower that Sookie and I planned."

"You planned this?" Lorelai asked.

Rory nodded, "Sookie was a lot of help as was Miss Patty and Babette."

Lorelai grinned as she wrapped her daughter in a tight hug, "Have I told you that you're my favorite daughter?"

Rory laughed, "You know you really can't say that anymore right? You're going to have two daughters."

"Okay but for right now since she is not born yet, you're my favorite," Lorelai pulled away from the hug smiling, "So this is where you have been running off to recently?"

"Yep."

"I thought you hated me or hated your sister already or something. I was worried you didn't want to spend time with me."

Rory laughed again, "That's crazy. Come on let's get inside, you have a party waiting on you."

As Lorelai walked into the dance studio, she was guided towards the back of the room. Various tables were set up in different parts of the studio. There was a table loaded down with presents, a table loaded down with food, and a few tables loaded down with different types of baby-shower activities. She stopped in front of a big chair decorated with pink streamers. Sookie was standing next to it beaming.

Sookie clapped her hands excitedly, "This is your chair, where you can sit, eat, open your presents or just whatever. This is your spot all decked out and decorated just for you."

Lorelai walked over to the chair and ran her fingers along the streamers, "Thank you Sookie," she said before hugging her best friend, "This is all so great."

Sookie waved her off, "It was no big deal. You needed a baby shower. Plus this town likes to celebrate absolutely anything."

Lorelai smiled, "Well that's true." She turned back around to face the party guests, "Let the party begin," she declared.

Various shouts were heard from around the dance studio as everyone began heading towards different tables. Lorelai took this moment to scan the crowd. Unlike traditional baby showers, this baby shower included people of both genders. She hoped to see Luke but so far saw no signs of him. This wasn't his thing but maybe he would show up later.

Rory walked up to her mother and grabbed her arm, "Come on let me show you around. You can see what we all planned."

"Sounds good," Lorelai replied.

Rory walked with Lorelai over to a table that Sookie and Rory had dubbed as the onesie-decorating table. At one end there were stacks of plain white, pink, and purple onesies. On the other end of the table, there were different stencils, stamps, and fabric paints in order to decorate the onesies. Miss Patty, Babette, and Gypsy were already at the table busy decorating. Clothesline was hung up above the table to hang the onesies once people were finished decorating them.

"Hey guys," Lorelai said as she approached.

"Hello Lorelai, Rory," Miss Patty said, "Rory you did a great job here."

Rory smiled, "Thank you."

"So how are we decorating everything here?" Lorelai asked, "Nothing inappropriate because remember I'm all for inappropriate shirts when I wear them but not so much for the baby."

Gypsy held up hers to show a small truck drawn on the onesie, "This is what I know. You'll have to get the other two to decorate in a girly way. I know mechanics."

"I'm sure she'll love it Gypsy," Lorelai replied. "Thank you for doing this, for being there, for helping out and for coming today."

"You know we would do anything for you sugah," Babette replied in her raspy voice, "Anything for you and your baby. Thought of any names yet?"

"We're getting there," Lorelai replied, "I have narrowed it down recently so I'm slowly getting a name planned out."

"You'll let us know?" Miss Patty asked.

Lorelai nodded, "I'll let you know. Well I should go see everything else my sweet daughter planned. Talk to you guys later," she replied as she started walking off.

* * *

An hour later, Lorelai was going back for seconds when she spotted a familiar figure lingering standing in the doorway of the dance studio. She put her plate down on the food table and walked over.

"Well look who showed up," Lorelai said as she approached Luke.

"I was invited," Luke replied.

"Yeah but you usually don't show up at these things. I didn't even know if you were going to come, it is a baby shower after all not exactly where I would picture Luke Danes to be." Lorelai hugged him. Hugs were becoming commonplace between them, "Thank you."

Luke rubbed her back, "You're welcome."

Lorelai stepped away from Luke, "So are you actually coming in or you are going to stand here all night? There's food, games, ooh and you can watch me open presents later."

"I'll come in," Luke said stepping into the dance studio.

Lorelai hooked her arm through Luke's, "Let's go then. I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Luke replied as he glanced down at their connected arms. Lorelai seemed to not think anything about their connection just now.

"Yep and now I'm starving for two so come on."

While Lorelai led Luke over to the food table, Rory was busy at the onesie decorating table with Sookie. Sookie's decorated onesie was coming out great. Her attention to pastry detail was coming in handy using the fabric paint. Rory's, however, was not coming out so great. She was definitely not an artist in any type of way. As she struggled with the paint, she heard a voice from behind her.

"Looks like you're having some trouble there."

Rory turned around to find Jess standing behind her with a smirk on his face. She narrowed her eyes, "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited too," Jess replied, "The whole town was. I figured I would stop by."

"Where's your girlfriend at?" Rory asked.

"I don't have a girlfriend, not anymore," Jess replied nonchalantly.

"Oh…" Rory sighed. She was relieved that they broke up. She did not like Jess dating that girl. Not that it mattered since she had a boyfriend.

Jess stepped closer to the table, "What exactly is that supposed to be?"

Rory looked down at the onesie that lay on the table. She had meant to draw a cup of coffee on there but that design quickly failed. Now there was just a big blue blob of paint on the front. She shook her head, "I have no idea really. I can't draw."

"I'll say," Jess replied.

"Don't be mean."

"Not mean just honest. Just say it's abstract that's what other artists do."

Rory nodded, "Good thinking."

"Where's your boyfriend at?" Jess asked suddenly.

Rory looked around, "He's somewhere." Lately there had been more arguments between her and Dean over her friendship with Jess. Dean thought she was jealous that Jess was dating someone else. Truth is she was a little jealous not that she would ever tell Dean that.

Rory sighed, "This is really terrible isn't it," she asked looking down at the onesie.

"It's not so bad," Jess replied. "I'm sure Lorelai will like it because you made it."

"You know she's a ruthless mocker."

"Say I made it, she hates me anyways," Jess replied.

Rory couldn't help but laugh, "She doesn't hate you exactly. But if you want to take credit for this then go on ahead. I'm not going to stop you."

Unbeknownst to them, Dean was standing just a few feet away watching them. He never liked Jess. He never liked Rory hanging out with Jess. It was all too obvious that Jess liked Rory and he was beginning to think that Rory had feelings for Jess as well. Anger bubbled up inside of him when he saw the pair laughing together.

Lorelai approached the table with Luke following behind her, "What's so funny over here?"

"Just laughing at this that Jess decorated," Rory said pointing to the onesie.

"You decorate one?" Lorelai asked shooting Jess a look.

"What can I say, I have an eye for fashion," Jess replied.

Lorelai let his comment slide. She turned to look at Luke, "See your nephew made one. You could make one to represent you just paint a cheeseburger on there."

"Aren't you supposed to open your presents now?" Luke asked changing the subject.

"Oh yeah," Lorelai said she turned back to Rory, "Come help Mommy open her presents."

* * *

Later that afternoon after games were played, food was eaten, and presents were opened, the party began to wind down. Lorelai sat in her decorated chair surrounded by clothes, blankets, diapers, bottles, baby toys, and stuffed animals from all the townspeople. Miss Patty had bought tutus already encouraging Lorelai to sign her baby up for dance as soon as she was old enough. Party guests came by and said goodbye to Lorelai and thanked Rory and Sookie for inviting them to the party. Soon only a few people were left.

"Why didn't you invite your grandparents today?" Lorelai asked.

"Did you want them here?" Rory replied.

"Not really."

"Well then there you go. Plus I figured this should be more of a Stars Hollow thing, Grandma probably wouldn't have been comfortable with all these people," Rory said.

Lorelai nodded, "You're right. I guess we should clean up now," she said pushing herself up from her chair.

"Sookie and I will clean up; we planned this so we'll clean everything up. Kirk offered to help, you go on home," Rory replied.

"Are you sure?" Lorelai asked, "I can clean."

"Go on home and take your presents with you."

"I have no way to carry them," Lorelai replied.

"Ask Luke to use his truck," Rory replied.

Lorelai nodded, "Good idea. Where is he?"

Jess walked up, "Luke?"

"Yeah," Lorelai answered.

"He went back to the diner," Jess replied.

"I'll be right back then," Lorelai said.

Lorelai walked out of the dance studio and headed over to the empty diner. She spotted Luke through the window cleaning up. She opened the diner door and walked inside. Luke looked up as the diner bell jingled.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked.

"Party's over," Lorelai replied, "You really didn't have to stay as long as you did. Thank you though."

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "No problem."

"Can I borrow your truck or at least borrow you for a few minutes?" Lorelai asked.

"Why?"

"I need to take my presents home but my jeep is at home. Your truck should it everything anyways so can I borrow it?"

"You're not driving my truck. But I can drive you home," Luke replied. "I have something for you first."

Lorelai smiled, "I was wondering. I never saw a present with your name on it. I thought you forgot about me."

Luke nodded his head towards the stairs, "It's upstairs."

"Dirty," Lorelai replied.

"Jeez," Luke groaned, "Do you want it or not?"

"You bought me a present of course I want it," Lorelai replied, "So upstairs?"

Luke nodded before leading her up the stairs. He left her go before him keeping one hand on her back as she walked up. Once inside his apartment, Luke walked over to his closet and wheeled out a stroller with a car-seat already in place.

Lorelai walked over to the stroller. She ran her hand along the handle as she inspected it. "You bought this for me?"

"And went ahead and put it together for you. I figured you would ask me to put it together anyways," Luke replied, "The guy at the store said this was the best one."

Lorelai scoffed, "Yeah this is definitely top-of-the-line. The highest rated safety features, all these other cool little features, this stroller and car-seat combo is the best one you can buy. I was going to buy this one until I realized it was also the most expensive stroller in the store. Luke this is too much."

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "It's nothing."

"Ok there Mr. Money bags, this is really too much. You spent way too much money," Lorelai replied.

"It's fine Lorelai."

"But Luke…"

"This is the one you wanted right?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah but it's too much. I had my eye on another stroller in the store though."

"But you wanted this one," Luke replied.

"Well yeah…"

"Then I just got the one you wanted. Lorelai don't worry about how much I spent on it. I wanted to buy this for you. I agree the price for a stroller is ridiculous but I bought it anyways," Luke replied, "For you."

"Oh Luke," Lorelai sighed.

"It's nothing. Isn't it customary to give presents at one of those things anyways?" Luke asked.

"Never presents this expensive though," Lorelai replied. She stepped forward and hugged him tighter than before, "You have no idea how amazing you really are."

"Neither do you," Luke replied.

Lorelai leaned and pressed her lips to his cheek, "Thank you," she whispered. She pressed another kiss to his cheek before pulling away. "I guess we should probably get this stuff back to my house now."

"Let me just grab my keys." Luke replied. He walked over to the counter in the kitchen and picked up his keys, "Ready to go?"

Lorelai nodded, "Can you get this downstairs or do you need help?"

"I got it," Luke replied. "You go on down. I'll be there in a minute."

Lorelai nodded and headed out of the apartment leaving Luke upstairs. He ran his fingers along the cheek that she had just kissed twice. Sure they hugged and she kissed him on the cheek once before but this time seemed different. More genuine, almost as if they were a couple. They had grown a lot closer recently carefully towing the line between friendship and something else. He was always there for her when she called, always willing to step up when she needed it, hell he even shelled out much more money than he ever thought he would on some stroller for her because it was the best one in the store. He just wondered if she was aware just how much their friendship had changed recently.

Shaking his head clear of his thoughts, Luke headed out of the apartment trying to carefully carry the stroller downstairs. Once he succeeded, Luke and Lorelai headed over to the dance studio and loaded up all the presents she received before they headed back to her house.

* * *

**So once again if you have any ideas for names for the baby leave them down below or send me a message. Next chapter, I will discuss actual names for the baby and there will be more Luke/Lorelai interaction.**


	13. Chapter 13

Two weeks had passed since Lorelai's baby shower. Since then Richard had scheduled a time for Rory to visit Yale with him, Emily, and Lorelai if she wanted to tag along. Today was the day of the Yale visit, while Rory was preparing to head to New Haven Lorelai was resting on the couch.

Rory walked out of her bedroom carrying a bag, "Are you sure you don't want to go?"

Lorelai sighed, "It's not that I don't want to go because I do. I would love to go with you today but I just don't feel great and I don't think walking around the Yale campus all day will be the best idea. I think I just worked too much this week."

"Well then," Rory said thinking, "Do you want me to stay home with you today? If you're not feeling great then maybe someone needs to stay with you."

Lorelai shook her head as she stood up from the couch and walked over to Rory, "No, I'll be fine. You're looking forward to this I know you are. So go. I'm just tired really," she looked over at the crib box in the corner that had been sitting there for the past few days. "Besides I plan on calling Luke over to see if he has time today to set up the crib since they finally delivered it."

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

A car horn sounded outside. Lorelai glanced towards the door then back at Rory, "Sounds like they are here."

Rory nodded, "I should go then."

Lorelai walked behind Rory to the door. She walked out onto the porch as Rory headed towards the car. Emily stepped out of the car and walked across the yard. She stood with her hands by her side as she addressed Lorelai.

"You're not going dressed like that are you?" Emily asked judging Lorelai's sweatpants and t-shirt.

"I'm not going today," Lorelai replied.

"Why not?" Emily asked. "I thought we were all supposed to go."

"I'm tired today," Lorelai answered, "I worked a little too much at the Inn this week and at my doctor's appointment this past week, I was told to take it easier so I'm taking it easy today. Plus you and Dad know about Yale, I don't. Rory still wants to go with you."

"Are you sure?" Emily replied.

Lorelai nodded, "I'm sure."

Emily huffed, "Fine. We'll be back later tonight then." She walked back towards the car.

Lorelai stood on the front porch. She waved as the car backed out of the driveway and began driving down the road. Once the car was out of sight, Lorelai headed back inside. She picked up the phone and dialed Luke's number before sitting back down on the couch.

"Luke's," Luke barked into the phone.

"Hey are you busy?" Lorelai asked.

"Lorelai?"

"Yeah are you busy?"

"I'm Luke."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Ha ha very funny. Are you busy though?"

She heard Luke sigh, "I run a diner. I'm always busy."

"Yeah, yeah, is there a way you could step away sometime today?" Lorelai asked.

"I could possibly step away once the lunch rush is over later, I usually have time during then," Luke replied. "Why?"

"Because," Lorelai said staring at the crib box in the corner of the living room, "They delivered the crib a few days ago and I need someone to set it up. I was thinking you're handy with tools and look like you could put together a crib. I was tempted to put it together but then again I want the crib to be safe for baby so could you come over later and set it up?"

Luke was silent for a moment.

"Luke?" Lorelai called when he didn't reply.

"I'll get Cesar to cover the diner after the lunch rush. I'll be over then," Luke replied.

Lorelai smiled, "Thank you."

"No problem."

Lorelai hung up the phone when she heard the line click off. She sat the phone down beside her and began watching TV again as she waited for Luke to come over.

* * *

"Finally," Lorelai said as she heard on a knock on the front door. She walked to the door and opened it to find Luke standing on the other side with his toolbox in hand and a take-out bag from the diner in the other, "I thought you forgot about me."

Luke walked into the house, "I didn't forget. Just took a little longer than usual."

Lorelai shut the door behind Luke, "What's with you knocking anyways? Last time you came over you just walked right in."

"I don't know," Luke replied. He held out the take-out bag he held in one hand towards Lorelai, "Here this is for you."

Lorelai grabbed the bag from him, "You didn't have to bring me anything over. I didn't ask," she said opening the bag. She smiled, "But I'm really glad you brought pie over."

"It's never a bad idea to bring pie over especially with you," Luke replied. He pointed towards a large rectangular box, "This the crib?"

"That's the crib and the mattress," Lorelai replied pointing towards the mattress that sat beside the box.

"Want it upstairs?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "In my bedroom."

"I'm going to put this upstairs first," Luke said holding up his toolbox.

"Okay, go on up," Lorelai replied. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a fork for her pie and a bottle of water. On her way out of the kitchen, she spotted her baby name book on the table. She juggled the items in her hands making sure she could carry everything before heading back upstairs. She passed by Luke on her way into the bedroom.

Lorelai sat down on the bed crossing her legs in front of her. She placed her water bottle on the nightstand along with the baby name book. In front of her on her bed, she took the take-out container from the bag and began eating her pie.

Luke walked in the room a few minutes later holding the crib box, "Where did you want this?" he asked.

Lorelai pointed to a corner of the room she had cleaned up, "Right there in that corner."

"Right here?" Luke asked setting the crib box down in the corner of the room. He opened the box and grabbed the instructions out before taking the various pieces out as well.

"That's the spot," Lorelai mumbled through a mouthful of pie, "I was going to try and put it together myself but then I wanted my child to actually sleep in the crib and if I put it together I would be afraid to let her sleep in it."

"So you asked me."

Lorelai nodded, "So I asked you. Now get to work mister!"

"You didn't carry this box inside yourself did you?" Luke asked as he opened the box and began reading through the instructions, "You're not supposed to lift heavy things when you're pregnant."

Lorelai shook her head, "I had it delivered to the house so the delivery guy brought it inside for me. I didn't lift a finger."

"Naturally." He turned around and looked at her, "You're eating pie in bed?"

Lorelai nodded, "It's the best way to eat pie."

"But you'll have crumbs in your bed."

"I can dust off the crumbs."

Luke shook his head and turned back to the crib. He laid out the pieces and began reading through the instructions once again. Lorelai stayed silent behind him as she finished off her pie. She set the empty take-out container and her fork on the nightstand. She picked up her baby name book and leaned back against the headboard as she searched for her list of possible names.

"Hey I have good news."

"What?" Luke asked keeping his back towards her.

"Since you're here, you can try to help me decide what to name baby here. I already have a list of possible names."

"Why doesn't Rory help you with that?" Luke asked.

"Well we have already picked out a few names, hence the list, but she's not here today. She went to visit Yale with my parents," Lorelai answered as she opened up the pop-tarts, "So today you can take Rory's place."

"Why didn't you go with them?" Luke asked.

"I wanted too but I don't feel great at all today. I figured it might be better to stay here then being dragged all around the Yale campus. Today, I just need to rest. It was a crazy week at the Inn," Lorelai said, "Besides Rory has her mind set on Harvard, and she's just doing this to please my parents."

"If you want to rest, I don't have to do this today," Luke said, "I can leave you alone to rest."

"I called you over here Luke. I want you here," Lorelai argued, "I can rest and watch you put the crib together, you're not going to disturb me."

"You know you should probably cut back your hours at the Inn. It can't be good for you to be stressing out while you're pregnant. You should take it easy."

"I know what I can handle Luke. I'm fine. It's not like I have much of a choice anyways. I have to be there since once the baby comes I will be out for a few weeks," Lorelai replied. "But thanks for the concern Dr. Danes," she said knowing Luke was only trying to watch out for her.

"Why are you asking me my opinion about the name?" Luke asked turning around to face Lorelai.

"Your opinion is important to me. You've been helping me throughout most of this, you're putting together the crib for me, and this kid is going to grow up with you as a permanent fixture in her life so I need a name that you approve of. And I just want someone to help me choose."

Luke sighed and turned back around to start putting the crib together, "What's your first option?"

"Carly?" Lorelai asked.

"That's a good name."

"Elise?"

"That's a good name."

"Lilah?"

"That's a good name."

"Lynn?" Lorelai suggested.

"That's a good name."

"Madelyn?"

"That's good name."

"Isabelle?"

"That's a good name."

Lorelai groaned, "You can't just keep saying 'that's a good name," she said mocking Luke. "You have to actually give an opinion. Now with the next name I say do not say that's a good name, say something else. How about Anna?"

"I dated an Anna before," Luke replied.

"So definitely not Anna," Lorelai said hastily earning a chuckle from Luke. Lorelai laughed, "What? I can't name my kid after someone you dated, now that's just weird. We're not naming her Anna."

Lorelai placed her hand on her belly as the baby started kicking. She giggled, "See even baby agrees with me. She's kicking in rebellion of the name Anna."

Luke shook his head, "You're insane."

"No, really she is kicking, a lot in fact. Do you want to feel?" Lorelai asked. "Would you like to feel?"

"I…"

"Is that a weird question to ask?" Lorelai asked as she pushed herself up from the bed. She walked towards Luke who was now standing, "I want you to feel. Usually when people are pregnant they have someone to share this with. They share this with the father of their child but he's not around and I already shared with Rory and Sookie. You're the one that told me I'm not alone in this, so you may feel the baby kicking." Before Luke could protest, Lorelai grabbed his hand and placed it on her belly. She placed her hand over his keeping it in place.

"I don't feel anything," Luke replied.

"Just wait."

After a few minutes a soft thudding could be felt. Lorelai pressed Luke's hand down a little harder to make sure he felt the baby kicking. She looked up at him with a small smile on her face, "Feel that?"

Luke nodded as he looked down at his hand that was on her belly, "Yeah," he whispered.

Lorelai smiled brightly, "That would be the baby," she laughed as the kicking got a little harder, "I think she likes you Luke."

Luke chuckled, "Or she's already trying to demand coffee from me."

"Well she is a Gilmore after all. She already knows you have the best coffee. I tell her that every night."

"You're crazy."

"Hey you have to teach them young," Lorelai replied. "I talk to her at night. Tell her all about Stars Hollow and it's crazy residents, tell her where she can find the best coffee that is once she's old enough, make sure she already knows all the best music and movies. She knows all about you, lots of stories are told about you."

"How does that feel?"

Lorelai scrunched up her face in confusion, "How does what feel?"

"The baby kicking, how does it feel for you? I mean does it hurt?" Luke asked.

Lorelai smiled at the genuine concern she saw in Luke's eyes. She shook her head, "No, it doesn't really hurt. It just feels a little weird. There's this baby inside of you kicking. It's strange but great. Sometimes she gets into a weird position and then it hurts but it doesn't always last for long. I can kind of press down and she moves."

Suddenly Lorelai moved forward and wrapped her arms around Luke's neck. His hands automatically wrapped around her as she laid her head against his shoulder. She held on to him tighter. Luke started to rub her back.

"Lorelai?" Luke asked concerned, "Everything okay?"

Lorelai nodded as she nuzzled her head in the crook of his neck, "Everything's okay. I just wanted a hug, needed a hug. You didn't have to do any of this for me but you've been there. This hasn't been the easiest time but you've helped me. Thank you Luke," she said quietly.

"You've already said thank you several times."

"I know. But I feel like I can't say it enough. Baby thanks you too."

Luke chuckled, "She can already talk?"

Lorelai pulled away from Luke with her arms still draped around his neck, "Hello we have that whole mother-daughter telepathy thing going on. Plus she is my child; she's very vocal about her opinions."

A silence fell upon the room. Lorelai noticed her arms still draped around Luke's neck but did nothing to move them. Besides his hands had found their way from her back and were now settled on her hips. She stared into his eyes. He was her comfort, her safety, the one that was always there for her. She felt herself stretching to her tip-toes and leaning in closer. Her eyes fluttered close when she noticed Luke leaning in closer as well. Just as their lips were about to touch, the phone rang.

Lorelai snatched away from Luke dropping her arms down to her sides, "Damn phone," she muttered as she abruptly turned away from Luke and trekked back across the room.

Luke turned around and began working on the crib once again trying to clear his head of what just happened. They almost kissed. They almost crossed a major line in their friendship. He thought about kissing her several times before and it would have happened it if wasn't for that stupid phone.

Lorelai grabbed the phone from her nightstand and clicked it on, "Hello?" she said into the receiver. She carefully watched Luke as he stood up securing one side of the crib to the other. They locked eyes for a quick second before Lorelai turned away.

"Hey Lorelai," Sookie said.

"Oh hey Sookie," Lorelai replied.

As Sookie explained the reason why she was calling, Lorelai continued to watch Luke. He seemed to be doing everything to avoid direct eye contact with her. She watched as he fumbled with his tools dropping them onto the floor causing a loud clattering sound to ring out in the room. After a few minutes of listening talk about some menu changes she wanted to make, Lorelai agreed to think about it before hanging up the phone.

A silence once gain filled the room. This time however, the silence was awkward both of them thinking about what might have happened if the phone had not interrupted them. Lorelai tried to keep herself busy and not thinking about the almost kiss as she once again flipped through the baby name book. She added a few more names down on her list and crossed a few out suddenly not liking the names. She shifted around on the bed until she was curled up with her head resting on a pillow. Before too long, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Lorelai woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. She rolled over to her side to find Rory standing beside her bed.

"Hey, you're back," Lorelai said sleepily as she sat up in bed.

Rory nodded, "Just got back. I see the crib is done," she said nodding her head towards the corner of the room.

Lorelai looked over at the finished crib that now had the mattress inside of it. "Oh, I guess I fell asleep while Luke was still here. Did you see him?"

Rory shook her head, "He wasn't here when I got here." She climbed onto the bed next to her mother and sat down.

"Oh. So how was Yale?" Lorelai asked. She didn't mean to fall asleep while Luke was here. She wanted to talk to him. To clear the air about the almost kiss, to find out what would have happened or maybe to say it was all a big mistake. She wasn't even sure which direction she wanted that conversation to go in right now. Everything was too confusing.

"It was fine but um there was kind of an interview part that I wasn't prepared for."

"An interview part? I thought you were only going to visit the campus."

"I did too but Grandpa set up an interview for me."

Lorelai groaned and shook her head, "He had no right to do that."

"I know. He said it was a great opportunity for me though. I'm still upset because I at least wanted to be prepared for it. He just sprung this entire interview thing on me. I wasn't prepared at all. I may have gotten into a small argument with Grandpa over the issue," Rory replied.

"I knew I should have went with you. I should call and talk to him, tell him he had no right to do that."

"No it's fine. I talked to him enough. It's not like you would have known he was going to do that."

"I guess so. Is that why you're home earlier than I expected? I thought you wouldn't be back until later."

Rory nodded, "After the interview and argument with Grandpa I really didn't feel like sticking around. They brought me home. I haven't had dinner yet. Are you hungry?"

Lorelai laughed as she rubbed her hand across the belly feeling a strong kick, "I'm always hungry and it seems like you're little sister is hungry too."

Rory smiled, "So Luke's? I'm in the mood for a cheeseburger."

Not yet wanting to face Luke and the awkwardness that might ensue with a diner visit, Lorelai declined the offer of Luke's. "How about Chinese instead?"

"We just had Chinese though. I really want a cheeseburger," Rory replied.

Lorelai sighed, "Okay but can you just bring it home? I don't feel like going to the diner right now."

"Did something happen with you and Luke? Did you two have another fight?"

Lorelai shook her head, "No, we're not fighting. It's just," she sighed trying to think of an excuse, "Don't feel like dealing with the town right now, kind of just want to stay home.

"Oh okay," Rory replied, "So I can go pick up the food I guess. What do you want?"

"Roast beef sandwich sounds good. That and some onion rings and french fries," Lorelai replied.

"Roast beef?" Rory asked raising an eyebrow.

"Hey that's all your sister. She's the one that wants it."

Rory climbed off the bed and kissed her mother's cheek, "Well tell her that I will get what she wants. I'll be back with food soon," she said before disappearing out of the room.

"Get some money out of my purse," Lorelai yelled after Rory.

30 minutes later, Rory walked back in the house with two bags full of food. Lorelai was now seated on the couch flipping through the TV channels. Rory set the take-out bags on the coffee table before sitting down next to her mother.

"So nothing happened between you and Luke today?" Rory asked.

"What? I told you that Luke and I weren't fighting. Why are you asking?" Lorelai questioned.

Rory shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. He just seemed weird. He was wondering where you were and why you didn't come with me. He was just a little strange, awkward really."

Lorelai took a moment to absorb the information, "Oh…um…something did happen…well almost happened. I think, maybe. I don't know really."

"What happened?" Rory asked.

"I almost kissed Luke," Lorelai said in a whisper, "Or he almost kissed me. We almost kissed at least I think that's what was happening. The phone rang though so we didn't do anything. We just avoided each other after it happened though."

"Maybe you should talk to him."

Lorelai sighed loudly, "It's no use. It's not like we can really start anything. It will be me, him, plus baby which makes three and that's not a relationship. That's now how you start a relationship. It's not fair to Luke."

Rory stayed silent. "But do you like him?"

"What I like or who I like does not matter at this moment," Lorelai said. She hid her face in her hands and groaned, "This is all too confusing."

Rory placed a comforting hand on her mom's shoulder, "I'm sorry. Sandwich?" she offered picking up the bag with Lorelai's food in it.

Lorelai looked up at Rory and smiled, "Thank you," she said taking the bag from her. "Your sister thanks you too."

"He put a salad in your bag and in my bag," Rory said.

"Of course he did, he would never forget the salad," Lorelai replied. She pouted, "He didn't put pie in here though."

"You didn't ask for pie," Rory replied, "Plus he said he gave you pie earlier and to tell if that if you complained about the lack of pie even if you didn't order it that one piece of pie is enough."

"It's like he doesn't know me at all."

Rory smiled, "He knows you well enough to know that you would complain about no pie even though you didn't order it."

Lorelai laughed, "True. Oh I didn't tell you I tried to rope him into picking out a name he liked but he just said every name was a good name. He was no help."

"Well I'm home now. I can help you choose. Where's your list?" Rory asked.

"Upstairs."

Both Gilmore girls turned and looked at the staircase then looked back at their comfortable positions on the couch. A few more glances towards the stairs happened before they finally looked at one another.

"Too far?" Lorelai asked.

"Too far," Rory agreed with a nod of her head before digging into the food she brought home.

* * *

**So I used some of your suggestions above for names. I still haven't decided on a name though.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

**Please leave a review.**


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